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BY THE REV. JOHN HARRIS, 

Author of 
"mammon," "the great teacher," Scc.y &c. 



3^ebi«eti ^merfcan Strftton* 






BOSTON: 
GOULD, KENDALL & LINCOLN 

No. 59 Washington Street. 

1838. 






Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1838, 

BY GOULD, KENDALL & LINCOLN, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts, 



3X<4 fi 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Preface, 7 

Introduction, 13 

CHAPTER I. 

The Scripture Doctrine of the Unity of the 

Church, 23 

CHAPTER II. 

The Nature of that Unity ; or, wherein its One- 
ness consists, 68 

CHAPTER III. 

Schism, the Breach of that Unity, 93 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Causes of Schism ; especially those which 
existed from Apostolic Times to the Period 
of the Reformation, Ill 

CHAPTER V. 

The Principal Means which have perpetuated 
Divisions from that Period to the Present, , 137 



VI CONTENTS. 

Pagff 
CHAPTER VI. 

Various Tests by which the Schismatical Spirit 
may be detected in Individuals and in 
Churches, 161 

CHAPTER VII. 

Its Sinfulness and Evils, 174 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Its Pleas and Disguises, 204 

CHAPTER IX. 

Its Removal ; or the Kind of Union to be At- 
tempted, 217 

CHAPTER X. 

The Means by which this Union should be 

Sought, 234 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Reasons which should Impel the Christian 

Church to Unite, . • 264 






PUBLISHER'S ADVERTISEMENT. 



There can be little difference of opinion in 
respect to the importance and desirableness of 
union among all who love our Lord Jesus 
Christ in sincerity. But in regard to the mode 
by which this union can best be effected, there 
are wide diversities of sentiment. Various 
writers have suggested plans, of the practica- 
bility of which they are themselves exceedingly 
sanguine ; but no plan seems yet to have so far 
commended itself to the confidence of Chris- 
tians as to encourage any considerable number 
to agree to subject it to the test of experiment. 
The author of the following Treatise has ven- 
tured forward with his opinion, and now so- 
licits for it the consideration of the candid and 
reflecting. The Publishers of the American 
edition, not fully coinciding with him in some 
of his positions, submitted the work to a cler- 
ical friend, by whom a few notes have been in- 



Vlll PUBLISHER'S ADVERTISEMENT. 

serted in the margin, mostly in the shape of 
interrogations, simply for the purpose of in- 
ducing the reader to pause and consider 
whether the Author's views are really sound 
and scriptural. No alteration has been made 
in the text, except in one instance, where a 
quotation from Scripture was corrected to make 
it conform to the received version. 

Whatever may be thought of the Author's 
theory, every reader will allow that he conducts 
the discussion in his usual masterly style, with 
a temper truly amiable, and fitted, as a sweet 
exemplification of his principles, to promote 
the end which he appears most fervently to 
desire. 

Boston, June, 1838. 



PREFACE 



Perhaps there is no denomination of 
Protestant Christians whose religious opin- 
ions are now precisely what they were fifty 
years ago. Retaining the same general plat- 
form of evangelical truth, and adhering, for 
the most part, as closely as ever to the letter 
of our distinctive tenets, certain modifications 
of particular points of doctrine have yet insen- 
sibly taken place, eminently favorable, as far 
as they go, to our closer approximation, and 
visible union. 

Owing however to the operation of other 
and hostile causes, it is lamentably obvious 
that such approximation has not occurred. 
The Christian Church is still " a house di- 
vided against itself." There, where we might 
have looked for the sepulchre of all the evil 
2 



Vlll PREFACE. 

passions, we find their rendezvous and their 
home.* Political governments, it is said, are, 
for the present, tired of war ; but that divine 
institution which should have been known as 
the peacemaker of the world, and which 
ought to have exhibited a model of holy una- 
nimity, even if all the world were in arms, 
gives signs of continuing to distinguish itself 
by conflict if all the world were at peace. 
Even the subterranean fires of the earth are 
said to be burning out and expiring ; but the 
devouring flames of ecclesiastical strife seem 
fed from an inexhaustible source, and show 
little direct indication of abating their volcanic 
activity. Well would it be for mankind if 
the fearful effects they produce were no more 
injurious than those of the lava from the 
crater. But while this only spreads a local 
alarm, and suspends the affairs of a town, 
these are retarding the movements of our 
political government, agitating the heart of 
the nation, making the very foundations of 
society vibrate, and shedding a pernicious in- 

* Rather too strongly expressed. Ed. 



PREFACE. IX 

fluence on the interests of humanity at large. 
The molten waves of the former prevent the 
cultivation of the soil only ; the latter, by 
virtually opposing a religious system of na- 
tional education, is dooming a large domain of 
immortal mind to worse than perpetual steril- 
ity, and transferring to it the curse originally 
pronounced on the ground, " thorns also and 
thistles shalt thou bring forth." And while 
the material element destroys only, at most, 
the life that now is, and overwhelms a town 
or a city, the more desolating element of ec- 
clesiastical dissension, by impairing the piety 
and usefulness of the Church, is abandoning 
multitudes to a death beyond the grave. 
" Return, O Lord, how long ?" 

Meantime, while the existing evil not only 
justifies but demands every scriptural effort at 
amelioration, it is natural that many a reader 
should be desirous to know the spirit and 
scope of a volume on Christian Union, before 
he commits himself to its entire perusal. As 
far as that desire may relate to the following 
pages, the writer is perfectly ready to reply, 
that in adverting to the history and evils of 



X PREFACE. 

schism his object has been, not to criminate 
parties, but to inculcate mutual forbearance, 
to lay bare the disease with a simple view to 
its removal — that the union which he advo- 
cates, so far from requiring the subjugation or 
absorption of any one section of the faithful, 
guarantees the integrity and security of each 
by seeking the fellowship of all — and that, 
agreeable as that union must be in itself, and 
eminently advantageous as it would be to 
those who are immediately concerned, he 
pleads for it chiefly for the sake of that world 
whose myriads are daily perishing in their 
guilt, and whose conversion, according to the 
prayer of Christ, is conditionally suspended 
on the instrumentality of a united Church. 

Were he to suppose that in the develop- 
ment of these views he has introduced nothing 
at which party feeling will take offence, he 
would evince an ignorance of the past and the 
present but little suited to the execution of 
his task. Indeed, when it is considered that 
this morbid feeling could hardly listen to the 
enforcement of Christian unity even in the 
language of Scripture itself, without pro- 



PREFACE. XI 

nouncing it, for the present, impracticable and 
unseasonable, the question is, whether such 
offence is not to be looked for and regarded 
as a sign of his impartiality and fidelity to his 
object. Be this as it may, he can truly aver 
to those of every community whom alone he 
desires to behold united — " the faithful in 
Christ Jesus" — that while, on the one hand, 
he has not knowingly omitted a single sen- 
tence merely for the sake of gratifying one 
party, he has not, on the other, introduced a 
word for the mere purpose of criminating any 
other party. So that if, in any instance, it 
should be his lot to reap division where his 
only aim has been to sow unity, he will 
regard it as an additional reason to appeal 
from earth to heaven, and, in the appropri- 
ate language of the Collect for Unity, say, 
" O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, our only Saviour, the Prince of 
Peace ; give us grace seriously to lay to 
heart the great dangers we are in by our 
unhappy divisions. Take away all hatred 
and prejudice, and whatsoever else may hin- 
der us from godly union and concord : that, 



Xll PREFACE. 

as there is but one body, and one Spirit, and 
one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, 
one baptism, one God and Father of us all, 
so we may henceforth be all of one heart, 
and of one soul, united in one holy bond of 
truth and peace, of faith and charity, and 
may with one mind and one mouth glorify 
thee ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen." 



UNION, 

fyc. 



INTRODUCTION. 

There appears to be a growing conviction 
among Christians in the present day, that the 
Church of Christ, notwithstanding its increas- 
ing activity and enlargement, is laboring under 
many and serious evils. Indeed, the attention 
which these evils are attracting, constitutes one 
of the most hopeful signs of the times ; espe- 
cially, as it seems to be connected with a desire 
to ascertain and apply the appropriate remedies. 

1. The result of the writer's observation and 
reading would lead him to infer, that the prin- 
cipal evils to be deplored are reducible to three 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

heads, — Covetousness, Schism, and Indevotion. 
In other words, that the great wants of the 
Christian Church are Liberality, Union, and a 
spirit of Prayer. This opinion by no means 
undertakes to place these desiderata in the 
order in which they should be met, nor to de- 
termine their comparative importance. It 
simply affirms that they exist ; and that the 
removal of one of them would be the removal 
of a train of minor and dependent evils; if not, 
also, the removal of the other two. 

2. The first of the three evils which we 
have named has been recently considered in a 
Treatise expressly on the subject, and which is 
still engaging a measure of the public atten- 
tion.* The present Essay relates to the second 
evil of the series — Schism. And, without seek- 
ing to aggrandise the importance of this subject 
at the expense of the other two, it may be 
clearly shown that it possesses one very im- 
portant feature peculiar to itself. Schism is an 
evil, the existence of which is undeniable, and 
the degrees of which) in every age, are strictly 
definable. The Great Founder of the Christian 
Church, explicitly requires that it shall be one. 

* Mammon, or Covetousness the sin of the Christian 
Church, 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

And here it will be permitted by the reader, 
and will be sufficient for the writer, to assume, 
that the oneness intended is, at least, a union 
of affection. " By this shall all men know that 
ye are my disciples, if ye love one another." 
Every instance of division, therefore, which in- 
capacitates Christians for reciprocating sincere 
expressions of Christian love with any part of 
the Church, is an unequivocal breach of this 
great law of unity. Let the subject of differ- 
ence be ever so trivial in itself, and the breach 
apparently ever so narrow, still, if it reach down 
to the heart, it is schism : or let it embrace 
ever so many particulars, and some of them 
even of considerable importance, still if it leave 
the heart entire, and allow a visible interchange 
of Christian offices, the sin is absent. The law 
of Christ on the subject is so definite, that we 
can lay our finger, so to speak, on the very 
point where the sin of schism begins ; and, by 
comparing the existing state of the Christian 
Church with the express requirements of that 
law, we can determine, with all the exactness 
of a chemical analysis, the places and the de- 
grees in which it exists. 

Now the same definiteness and precision 
cannot be predicated, either of Christian liber- 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

ality, or of a spirit of prayer. These are sub- 
jects of individual concern ; and as the cir- 
cumstances of every Christian differ from those 
of every other Christian, they must necessarily 
be left to the individual responsibility of each 
to God. But Christian union relates to be- 
lievers in their collective capacity ; and, there- 
fore, the great Lawgiver has not left the duty 
to be modified by circumstances, nor adjusted 
by individuals. He has determined that noth- 
ing shall ever justify the absence of substantial 
union — of visible affection — from the ranks of 
his followers. Besides, the most earnest sup- 
plication may be that which is offered in the 
closet with " the door shut ;" and the amplest 
donation made by " the right hand," may be 
that of which even "the left hand" knows 
nothing ; — a fact of which the worldly professor 
of religion is quick to take advantage; and 
which renders it extremely difficult to bring 
home to an unwilling mind the charges of 
covetousness and indevotion which may lie 
against it. But the union of the Christian 
Church is a visible thing; and its relative value 
consists chiefly in its visibility. It stands in 
the same relation to liberality and prayer, as 
the walls of the temple did to the services 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

within. The munificence and devotion of the 
worshippers could be judged of only by the 
worshippers themselves ; but whoever chose to 
walk about Zion, and mark her bulwarks, 
could easily report the state of her towers and 
walls: if these were rent and dilapidated, and 
in a state to invite rather than to repel an in- 
vader, he would then be justified in concluding 
that the fires on the altar were burning but 
dimly, and that the sacred courts were compar- 
atively deserted. 

In the same way, the divided condition of 
the Christian Church will assist us in judging 
of the state of its internal piety. When we at- 
tempt to exhibit its covetousness and indevo- 
tion, as compared with the Primitive Church, 
or with the requirements of the Christian Law- 
giver, we are regarded by the great bulk of 
worldly professors as indulging in exaggeration ; 
and a suspicion will occasionally cross our own 
minds, that the representation is too repulsive 
to be true. But the divided state of the Chris- 
tian Church shows that the suspicion is unwar- 
ranted : it says to us, in language not to be 
misunderstood, " Can any representation of the 
internal state of the Christian community be 
greatly exaggerated, when its external state is 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

so rent and dismantled? Remember the all- 
pervading unity of affection which the Saviour 
required in his Church ; contrast that oneness 
with its actual condition at this moment; and 
then say, whether the alarming degree, in 
which Christian union is wanting in the 
Church, would not justify your utmost fears 
concerning the absence of liberality and devo- 
tion also 1 What can you expect from a 
Church whose members, instead of worship- 
ping together in one spirit — laying all the fuel 
of its affections upon one altar — withdraw, and 
separate into parties, and erect each its distinct 
altar, one on Mount Gerizim, and another on 
Mount Zion — what, but that the fires on each 
should burn dimly ? What can you expect 
from the man who loveth not his brother- 
Christian whom he hath seen, but that he can- 
not love God whom he hath not seen V 9 Thus 
the subject of schism not only possesses a fea- 
ture peculiar to itself, it may also be made 
highly subservient in detecting the presence, 
and determining the probable amount of covet- 
ousness and indevotion. 

3. But important as the sifbject of schism is 
in itself, and useful as it may be made as a test 
of the state of the Church generally, the writer 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

would remember that the utility of any Treatise 
on it will materially depend, under God, on the 
spirit in which it is discussed. When the state 
of the ancient temple was to be reported on, an 
angel was the agent sent, and a golden measur- 
ing rod the instrument he was to employ — the 
highest created intelligence and an unerring 
standard. The writer cannot pretend to ap- 
proach his task with the pure and passionless 
mind of an angelic nature ; but he earnestly 
desires to imitate him in forming a lofty esti- 
mate of the hallowed employment he has un- 
dertaken ; in bringing no line or measure to 
the work, but the perfect rule of Divine Reve- 
lation ; and in applying that rule with as steady 
and impartial a hand as if he saw the Lord of 
angels himself looking on. Feeling that he is 
approaching a subject which the passions of 
men have enveloped in considerable mist and 
difficulty, he would humbly invoke — implore — 
importune God for the indispensable illumina- 
nation and guidance of his Holy Spirit. Re- 
membering that it is a subject which will bring 
to light much of the infirmity of some of the 
holiest and most honored servants of God — men 
" of whom the world was not worthy, ' ; and 
who " are now without fault before the throne 
3 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

of God" — he would bring to it a spirit of 
patient forbearance and tender compassion. 
Recollecting that it is a subject on which some 
of the best of men have grievously differed and 
misrepresented each other, he would approach 
it with deep humiliation ; calling injustice and 
wrong by their proper names wherever he may 
find them ; not extenuating the crimes and 
follies of those whose memories in other re- 
spects he may hold dear ; unveiling the faults 
of other parties, not for purposes of unholy ex- 
ultation and reproach, but simply from fidelity 
to the cause of truth, to extract lessons of hu- 
mility and Christian charity, and to inculcate a 
mutual oblivion of the past — firmly believing, 
as he does, that whenever the breaches of the 
Churches shall be healed, it will be a season, 
not of triumph to any single party, but of mu- 
tual concession and of general humiliation, that 

" in those days, and in that time, 

the children of Israel shall come, they and the 
children of Judah, together, going and weep- 
ing : they shall go, and seek the Lord their 
God." Fully aware how nearly even a virtu- 
ous indignation is allied to hatred, and how 
often schism has been decried in the true spirit 
of schism, he would distrust the purity of every 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

passion but that of love for the truth, and the 
desire of conciliating and uniting all its follow- 
ers. And impressed with the idea, that the 
honor of God is deeply concerned in the pres- 
ent attempt, he would prosecute it, as if he saw 
the eye of flaming fire resting on him, or as if 
he had reached the thrice-hallowed spot where 
the Greater Intercessor prayed for his people 
4< that they all might be one," and heard him 
still repeating the request. 

With such impressions, and in the exercise 
of such a spirit, we propose, in the treatment of 
the subject, to pursue the following plan : — 
I. To exhibit the Scripture doctrine of the 
Unity of the Church. II. The Nature of that 
Unity ; or, wherein its Oneness consists. III. 
We shail then show that Schism is the Breach 
of that Unity. IV. Trace the Causes of 
Schism ; especially those which existed from 
the Earliest Age of the Christian Church to the 
Period of the Reformation. V. The principal 
Means which have perpetuated the Divisions of 
Christians from that period to the present ; and 
which are still in fatal operation. VI. Various 
Tests by which the Schismatical Spirit may be 
detected in Individuals and in Churches. VII. 
Its Sinfulness and its Evils. VIII. Its Pleas 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

and Disguises. IX. Its Removal ; or, the 
Kind of Union to be Attempted. X. The 
Means by which this Union should be sought. 
XI. And, finally, the Reasons which should 
impel the Christian Church to Unite. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF THE UNITY OF THE 
CHURCH, 

As schism is a relative term, it is natural and 
proper that we should begin with an inquiry 
into the nature of that to which the term relates 
— the Christian Church. And in every inquiry 
relating to Christian doctrine or duty, our first 
concern should undoubtedly be to ascertain the 
mind of God as revealed in his word. 

The term exxlyaux (Ecclesia,) in the New 
Testament, which our translators have render- 
ed by the word church, is one which originally 
denotes a popular assembly, or gathering of per- 
sons into one place, without any reference to 
the character of the persons convened, or to the 
object of their meeting. In this general sense 
it is employed, Acts xix. 32. But as a religious 
appellation, it invariably denotes either the 
whole body of the faithful, or some one assem- 
bly of such persons associated together for the 
worship of God. In the former sense, our Lord 
affirmed,* " upon this rock will I build my 

* Matt. xvi. 18. 
3* 



24 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

church ;" contemplating the majestic assembly 
— the number which no man can number — 
who, in all the ages to come, should form the 
great Christian community : and in the same 
sense it is affirmed, that " he is the Plead over 
all things to the church, which is his body." 
When the term church is employed in the lat- 
ter sense, it is always accompanied with a spe- 
cification of the place where it was accustomed 
to convene ; — as, " the church which is at Co- 
rinth, " " at Ephesus," or, " at Rome ;" — so 
that it differs from the former, only as a part 
differs from the whole ; while the idea of union 
essentially pervades them both. 

The collective oneness of believers, appears 
to have been designedly taught by each of the 
series of types appointed from the beginning to 
adumbrate the nature of the Christian Church. 
He who " sees the end from the beginning," 
saw fit to sketch an outline of his ultimate and 
most comprehensive purposes on some of his 
earliest and minutest works ; impressing on the 
first stone the figure of the complete pyramid — 
and on the atom the laws of the globe. He 
who " made all things for himself," appears to 
have so made them, that the least should con- 
tain a prophecy of the greatest ; and that the 
natural should mutely prefigure and promise 
the spiritual. Thus, the earliest social relation, 
and that which is the appointed source of every 
other — the marriage union — reflects, in "a 
mystery," the union of Christ and his Church. 
And the creation at first of only one woman, 
and the Divine permission ever since of but 
one contemporaneous wife, appear to have been 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 25 

divinely intended to denote the collective one- 
ness of " the bride, the Lamb's wife.' 5 Eph. v. 
25 — 33 ; Rev. xix. 8. 

As a family is the natural result of marriage, 
so the next great type in the series appointed 
to denote the unity of the Church, was the one- 
ness of a family. This appears to have been 
the pervading idea of the patriarchal dispensa- 
tion ; of which Abraham was the principal per- 
son. And hence it was, according to the Apos- 
tle Paul, that Ishmael was cast out ; in order, 
partly, that the typical family might remain at 
peace and unity within itself. Gal. iv. 28 — 31. 

As a number of families form a nation, so 
" the church in the wilderness" — the " twelve- 
tribed" Israelites assembled at the foot of 
Sinai, and afterwards at the festivals on Sion, 
were a national emblem of the collected Church. 
" Ye are come," saith the Apostle, " unto 
Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living 
God."* Like the Jews, but in a sense supe- 
rior, you have one common centre, in which 
you not merely meet, but where you habitually 
reside — in God's only palace upon earth, his 
Church. Like the tribes resorting from all 
parts of Judea to Jerusalem — like the Panathe- 
naica, or great convention (navriyvqig) of the 
Athenians — you form one *' general assembly" 
^navrjyvoi;) — one glorious concessus of all or- 
ders. All of you are equally " first-born ;" 
having equal rights on earth, and the prospect 

* Schoettgen has amply proved, in his dissertation 
on this subject, that by this phrase is to be understood 
the Church of the New Testament. 



26 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

of the same inheritance in heaven. And being 
all alike civitate donati, made free of the Church, 
you are enrolled in the same celestial register. 
You all meet at the same throne, and in the 
same presence ; and by assembling there, you 
meet with the spirits of all the perfected just : 
for the throne of the great pater-familias, of 
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is 
named, is the rendezvous of all his spiritual 
offspring. One Mediator — better far than Mo- 
ses — unites your interests, and represents them 
all in his own person ; and presents your sup- 
plications in his one priestly censer. And one 
atonement— such as Abel never offered — lays 
the foundation of your common hope. And to 
all this you have come. As those who, being 
admitted freemen, were said to have come into 
the very constitution of the Roman polity — to 
have the jus civitatis Romance, the rights of 
citizenship — though living a thousand miles off, 
so you belong to the great commonwealth of 
the Christian Church. 

In the local unity and representative oneness 
of the Jewish tribes, then, we behold a project- 
ed shadow of that spiritual entireness which 
was to be realized in the constitution of the 
Christian Church. The tribes collected at Si- 
nai, or on Sion, were " an allegory,' 7 of which 
the Church of Christ is the truth, liberated and 
embodied. 

The unity of the Church was a doctrine not 
only prefigured, but predicted. One of the 
earliest characteristics of the Messiah was, that 
" to him should the gathering of the people be." 
Under his reign, saith Isaiah, " Ephraim shall 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 27 

not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex 
Ephraim." While the union of the two is often 
predicted, in evident reference to the ultimate 
union of the Church under Christ ; then " one 
king shall be king to them all, — neither shall 
they be divided into two kingdoms any more at 
all ;" he will " turn to the people a pure lan- 
guage, that they may all call upon the name of 
the Lord, to serve him with one consent ;" and 
he will give to them " one heart and one way." 
They shall constitute a Church, in whose peace- 
ful bosom but one heart shall exist, to sway 
their motions and direct their actions, — a heart 
which shall beat in harmony with heaven, and 
whose every pulse shall diffuse life and joy to 
the remotest members. And so far from shun- 
ning each other, and seeking separate paths, 
they shall have but " one way," in which they 
shall advance together — a loving, happy, pilgrim 
band. 

Accordingly, " when the fullness of time was 
come," and Christ appeared on earth, he de- 
voted himself to the great office of realizing 
those types and fulfilling those predictions ; in 
other words, he sought to unite us to each oth- 
er, by restoring us to God. 

For this purpose, he assumed an identity of 
nature. " Both he that sanctifieth, and they 
who are sanctified, are all of one ; for which 
cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, 
saying, I will declare thy name unto my breth- 
ren ; in the midst of the church will I sing 
praise unto thee." By assuming our nature 
into a union with his own, he has demonstrated 
to our hopes that nothing great or illustrious is 



28 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

to be denied us ; that all heaven is open before 
us ; so that he would have our only object of 
contention to be, which shall approach the 
nearest to his own exalted state. By thus hon- 
oring and crowning our nature in the face of 
the universe, he would not merely shame us 
out of our mutual differences, but would pre- 
sent us to each other as new and magnificent 
objects of affection. By describing himself as 
standing " in the midst of the church," — its 
central and solar glory — he would have us to 
feel our union to each other in our common de- 
pendence upon him. And by " calling us breth- 
ren/' he would remind his followers that they 
form a brotherhood ; and that they are not to be 
ashamed of, nor in any way to disgrace, the sa- 
cred relationship. Whatever infirmities and de- 
fects they may see in a fellow-Christian, they 
are to remember that he is treading the ascent 
of truth and goodness; that, at length, he will 
reach an elevation in that upward path, where 
he will be richly entitled to all their esteem ; 
that the holiest of those who are now before the 
throne will finally hail him as a companion, and 
delight in his converse : and that whatever ex- 
cellences he will then display, he now possesses 
in the principle or seed. They are to remem- 
ber that all the followers of Christ are even now 
the objects of his ennobling love ; that he is not 
ashamed to call them brethren, and is, at this 
moment, discharging for them all the kind and 
beneficent offices of brotherhood ; and, remem- 
bering this, their affections should expand and 
embrace the whole as members of the family of 
Christ. 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 29 

But not only did our Lord plainly imply that 
such was his object, he expressly declared it. 
" I am the good shepherd," said he, " I know 
my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Fa- 
ther knoweth me, even so know I the Father : 
and I lay down my life for the sheep. And 
other sheep I have which are not of this fold : 
them also I must bring, and they shall hear my 
voice ; and there shall be one fold, and one 
shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, 
because I lay down my life that I may take it 
again." From which remarkable exposition of 
the Divine plans we learn, that the proper and 
natural aspect which the human family ought 
ever to have presented to the eyes of the uni- 
verse is that of the oneness of a flock in close 
and constant nearness to its Divine Shepherd ; 
that under the disturbing influence of sin, " all 
we like sheep have gone astray," wandering 
not only from God, but from each other also ; 
" turning every one into his own way ;" that 
the object of the advent of Christ is to reclaim 
us from our wanderings, and to restore us to 
the Divine embrace from which we have been 
lost ; that so intently is the benevolence of God 
set on our recovery, that ineffably as he had 
loved the Saviour from eternity, he loves him 
still more for sustaining our liabilities, and thus 
setting his paternal compassion free to save us ! 
and that, in reward for that mediation, all who 
are saved shall form one fold under him, " the 
great Shepherd of the sheep." So that, in 
truth, the recovery and union of believers under 
Christ, is the ultimate design of God in the me- 
diation of his Son. 



30 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OP 

And with this representation agrees also the 
tenor of our Lord's practical teaching. His 
favorite topics, of this nature, were humility be- 
fore God, and a spirit of forbearance and love 
towards men. And be it remembered that he 
insisted on the latter as tending to, and expres- 
sive of, the former. The same pride which 
proclaims its independence of God, essays also 
to insulate itself from man, and to subordinate 
every thing to its own interest. And the same 
humility which lies low at the footstool of God, 
declines to be called " master," and is willing 
to become the " servant of all." 

So far from making his religion the occasion 
of new contentions, he would have his disciples 
to " forgive from the heart every one his bro- 
ther their trespasses"— to proclaim a general 
amnesty, an act of oblivion of all injuries, a 
year of jubilee — and that jubilee he would have 
us to make perpetual. So far from allowing 
his disciples to draw off, on account of their re- 
ligion, into separate factions, he would have 
that religion to bind them in a confederation 
for securing the peace of the world. And in- 
stead of allowing us to go to the throne of grace 
with a feeling of estrangement from our breth- 
ren on account of our religious differences, he 
would have our religion to operate as the chief 
incitement to prayer in their behalf. He not 
only charges us to do for them all the good we 
can ourselves, but taking us into " our Father's" 
presence, he invests us with the office of mu- 
tual intercessors ; empowers us to touch and 
set in motion, for each other, an almighty agen- 
cy ; making it at once our honor and office to 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 31 

assist, as subordinate agents, in training and 
conducting each other to eternal life. 

Not satisfied with inculcating mutual affec- 
tion on his people in general terms, he concen- 
trated and expressed his will on the subject in 
a new command. As the Lawgiver of his Church, 
possessing all authority in heaven and earth, he 
was empowered to enact what laws he pleased. 
But, in the exercise of that high prerogative, 
the only subject on which he chose formally to 
legislate was, the mutual affection of his peo- 
ple : " A new commandment give I unto you, 
that ye love one another." By calling it a new 
command, he would be understood as giving it 
additional solemnity, as incorporating it with 
the ancient tables, and publishing it as an inte- 
gral part of the eternal moral law. While to 
complete its power, and to render its appeal to 
their hearts irresistible, he proposes his own 
example as the model and motive to obedience, 
adding, " as I have loved you, that ye love one 
another. " He might justly have engrossed the 
love of his people to himself; but, no, he con- 
sented to take the love they owe to him, in the 
form of love to each other. He delighted to 
contemplate his church as a community of 
hearts, cemented by attachment to a common 
object, and thus rendered one. 

Not only did he enjoin the duty of mutual 
affection by a new command, to promote our 
intelligent obedience he explained the reason 
in which it is founded ; " for,' 5 said he, " all ye 
are brethren" — born into the same family, chil- 
dren of the same heavenly Father, partakers of 
4 



32 THE SCRIPTUPE DOCTRINE OF 

the same new nature, and tending to the same 
eternal home. 

The mutual affection which he commended, 
and the reason of which he thus explained, he 
also affectingly exemplified. Often had his dis- 
ciples contested the question of precedence in 
his kingdom. How beautiful, impressive,^and 
instructive the sight which stands before them : 
— the Lord of glory, folding in his arms a help- 
less babe, as an emblem of the humility which 
adorns his kingdom ! Thus did he seek both 
to dry up that fountain of ambition which threat- 
ened to embitter the Church, and to inculcate 
that love which seeketh not her own. 

But by what new expedient, shall he still fur- 
ther secure this object ? Behold him washing 
his disciples' feet ! And why should he thus 
inculcate the condescending offices of brotherly 
Jove, but because he knew that — like the liga- 
ments and arterial net-work of the human frame 
— the health and happiness of his body, the 
Church, depends on their binding power and 
reciprocating influence ! 

To bind his people together still more effect- 
ually, he made their affection to each other the 
badge of their discipleship to him. " By this," 
said he, " shall all men know that ye are my 
disciples, if ye have love one to another." Sin 
is the great principle of repulsion by which men 
are severed and kept aloof from each other, and 
led to pursue their respective ends apart. Christ 
came into the world to be a new centre of at- 
traction, around which they might rally and re- 
unite. So that if there be a community on the 
face of the earth, distinguished from all others 



THE UNITS' OF THE CHURCH. 33 

by the absence of selfishness and the ardor of 
their love, all who behold them might be con- 
strained to say, " These are certainly the fol- 
lowers of Him whose name is Love." 

Having commanded, exemplified, and en- 
forced the mutual affection of his people, he did 
not leave the performance of the sacred duty to 
depend on the result of their own prayers alone ; 
— he prayed himself with an earnestness that 
would not be denied, that they all might be one. 
" Neither pray I for these alone, but for them 
also who shall believe on me through their 
word ; that they all may be one." Here the 
great Intercessor, when only a step from the 
cross, comprehending his people at a glance in 
all the nations of the earth, and all the ages of 
time, prays that they all may be one — incorpo- 
rated in one body, animated by one spirit, unit- 
ed in that love which is the bond of perfect- 
ness : — that they may be one as we are one, as 
thou Father art in me and I in thee — closely, 
spiritually, indissolubly ; how intimate and sa- 
cred the union of which the mysterious trinity 
in unity is the heavenly pattern : — that they 
may be made perfect in one, their oneness is 
necessary to their perfection. Not only is their 
oneness in each succeeding age necessary to 
their perfection for the time being, but the final 
unity of all is necessary to the perfection of the 
entire body. As it is said of the Jewish church, 
" that they without us could not be made per- 
fect," so the church in heaven is waiting " till 
we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the 
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect 
man, unto the measure of the stature of the 



34 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

fullness of Christ." Such was the specific ob- 
ject for which the Saviour prayed in the pre- 
sence of the cross, and by which he taught his 
disciples that they had no separate interests, 
bound them to each other with the cords of 
love, and impressed it on them that henceforth 
and forever he and they were one. 

And having so prayed, in order to give effi- 
cacy to his intercession, he ascended the cross. 
Then was the new centre of Divine attraction 
established. Then was fulfilled the involuntary 
prediction of Caiaphas, who said, " It is expe- 
dient for us that one man should die for the 
people, and that the whole nation perish not. 
And this spake he not of himself; but being 
high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus 
should die for that nation ; and not for that na- 
tion only, but that also he should gather togeth- 
er in one the children of God that were scatter- 
ed abroad" — that operating as the attractive of 
our hearts to himself, and the centre of our 
unity to each other, he should form his people 
into one entire globe of love. Then was com- 
menced the fulfilment of his own prediction, 
" And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will 
draw all men unto me," — detaching them from 
their separate points of selfishness, where they 
have stood frowning on each other and me, all 
eyes and hearts shall meet together by center- 
ing in me. His cross, like the ark in the wil- 
derness, is the centre around which his people 
are to encamp ; so that they cannot separate in- 
to factions, or withdraw from each other, with- 
out retiring at the same time from the presence 
of the cross. 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 35 

And the union of his Church, which he had 
thus lived to inculcate, and 'died to secure, he 
still continues to enforce by the ordinances of 
baptism and the Lord's-supper. " For by one 
Spirit, are we all baptised into one body :" as the 
individual is made one by the soul which per- 
vades all the parts of his system and unites 
them together, so all the members of the Chris- 
tian Church are pervaded and made one by the 
one Spirit which inhabits them, and of whose 
presence baptism is the sign. " And we, being 
many, are one bread, and one body : for we are 
all partakers of that one bread ;" the one loaf, 
and the one cup, of which all partake, however 
numerous, is an evidence and sign that there is 
but one body of which they are all members. 
So that as long as these ordinances are admin- 
istered in his Church, our Lord is virtually call- 
ing on his people to be one. He is reminding 
them that the image they are to present to the 
world is that of a holy, happy, united family, 
entering his house together through the one 
door of Christian baptism, and sitting down to- 
gether at a family feast of love. 

The visible unity of the Church, which had 
been thus presignified in the Old Testament, 
and which had formed so conspicuous a feature 
in the ministry of our Lord, continued to be en- 
forced by the conduct and writings of the apos- 
tles. In confirmation of this statement, let us 
look through the " Acts of the Apostles," and 
the Epistles, and we shall find that each, in 
succession, contemplates, directly or indirectly, 
the oneness of the Church. 

The thousands converted on the day of Pen- 

4* 



36 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

tecost, consisted of " Jews from every nation 
under heaven ;" but, notwithstanding their ne- 
cessary diversity of objects, characters, and 
prejudices, the principle which drew them to 
Christ, drew them so effectually to each other, 
that " the multitude of them that believed were 
of one heart y and of one soul." Who does not 
recognise in that nucleus of the Christian 
Church — that earliest hour of its existence — a 
significant intimation of the unity which was 
intended to fuse and form the faithful of every 
age and every nation under heaven, into one 
harmonious and devoted brotherhood ? 

But, distinguished as the members of that 
church must have been by almost every variety 
of prejudice and character, there was yet one 
important respect in which they met — they 
were all Jews. Although they harmonise easily 
together, will they equally unite with the be- 
lieving Gentiles ? No sooner had Peter beheld 
the vision which forbade him to " call any man 
common or unclean" — and " Paul and Silas 
declared what great things God had wrought by 
them among the heathen" — than all " the el- 
ders and brethren at Jerusalem rejoiced" that 
" to the Gentiles also God had granted repent- 
ance unto life." The enclosure of Jewish re- 
striction was thrown open and broken down, 
heart met heart, and they who were once afar 
off, were forthwith introduced and welcomed as 
" fellow-citizens of the saints and of the house- 
hold of God." 

Having surmounted the first difficulty, how- 
ever, of receiving the converted Gentile into 
Christian fellowship, many of the believing Jews 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 37 

still found it hard to conceive that his state 
could be quite secure unless he joined with 
them in attaching importance to certain parts 
of the Mosaic ritual. In opposition to this pre- 
judice, the apostles, especially St. Paul, pro- 
tested that the great principle of union between 
Jew and Gentile was the common salvation of 
Christ : " for he is our peace who hath made 
both one, and hath broken down the middle 
wall of partition between us, .... to make in 
himself of twain one new man, so making 
peace." 

Now this twofold doctrine — that Jew and 
Gentile, Barbarian, Scythian, bond and free — 
all believers, without national, civil, or social 
distinction, are incorporated into one visible 
body — and that Christ is the basis and bond of 
this incorporation — is a subject which imparts 
an entire character to some of the epistles, and 
which furnishes a clue to much in nearly all. 
And it is observable how invariably the inspired 
penmen take occasion from this subject to in- 
sist and enlarge on the obligations of mutual 
love ; and how often they ascend from this 
point to the contemplation of a union in Christ, 
which is destined to include, not only the holy 
of every age and nation, but also of other worlds. 

The first of the apostolical epistles is to be 
found in Acts xv. 23 — 29 ; and may be called 
" an epistle to restore peace." The whole nar- 
rative is pertinent and instructive. An attempt 
is made by certain erring members of the church 
at Antioch, to compel others to conform to 
their prejudices. The Christian liberty of a 
part of the church is invaded, and the peace of 



38 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

the whole disturbed. Paul and Barnabas, had 
they obeyed their early prepossessions, would 
have sided with those who attempted the impo- 
sition ; but this their fidelity to their Lord, and 
to Christian liberty, forbade. Or, in the exer- 
cise of that high authority which they possess- 
ed, and of the great influence they had acquired, 
they might have put their veto on the attempted 
imposition ; but this they forbore, both because 
they would not lord it over God's heritage, and 
because they supremely valued the peace and 
unity of the Christian Church. Humbly con- 
senting in this emergency to form part of a de- 
putation, they hasten to Jerusalem — their sole 
object, the Christian liberty and union of the 
Church. In the council which was there as- 
sembled—the first ever held in the Christian 
Church — nearly all the official powers of the 
Church militant met. But their only concern 
was to obey the dictates of their Lord, and their 
only aim to preserve the unity of the Church 
entire. "And to this agree the words of the 
prophets," said James, "as it is written, After 
this I will return, and will build again the 
tabernacle of David which is fallen down ; and 
I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will 
set it up : that the residue of men might seek 
after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, on whom 
my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth 
all these things. Known unto God are all his 
works from the beginning of the world." As if 
he had said, — the admission of the Gentiles 
may have outrun our expectation, and taken us 
by surprise ; but it was a part of the Divine 
plan before man had breathed, or the world was 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 39 

made. In pursuance of that plan, the Almighty 
Architect is now at work, realising the type of 
the " tabernacle of David" by the erection of 
his spiritual temple. In every age the glorious 
fabric has been rising and advancing. The 
erection has now reached that critical juncture, 
in which new materials — Gentile converts — are 
to be collected and employed. " Wherefore 
my sentence is, that we trouble them not" — 
that we do nothing calculated to disturb the 
peace, or retard the progress of the spiritual 
building. " But that we write to them," to the 
effect that, as we sacrifice our prejudices in 
pronouncing them, under God, absolved from 
the rite of circumcision, so they are kindly ad- 
monished to abstain, not only from things es- 
sentially and universally wrong, but also from 
things strangled and from blood, that the con- 
science of the pious Jew may not be wounded. 
Accordingly a letter was sent, conceived in 
the very spirit of conciliation and love, and 
" laying upon them no greater burden than 
these necessary things." Such was the nature 
of the first epistolary offering laid upon the altar 
of Christian unity. Though it is unostenta- 
tiously interwoven with the Scripture narrative, 
it richly deserves to stand out conspicuously in 
letters of gold, in the recollection of the Church, 
as a model, in temper and aim, for all who 
should subsequently attempt to compose the 
differences of Christian parties. How admira- 
ble was the entire proceeding ! Instead of ex- 
ercising their power to abridge the freedom of 
the Church, they nobly employ it as the cham- 
pions of its liberty ! The course they advise is 



40 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

that of mutual concession, and the spirit they 
breathe that of Christian Jove. They offer up 
their own prejudices at the shrine of the 
Church ; and teach us to regard the peace of 
its members as cheaply purchased, if we can 
preserve or restore it by imitating their example. 
The Epistle to the Romans. — Dr. Paley, 
with his usual perspicuity, has shown that the 
principal object of the argumentative part of 
this epistle is " to place the Gentile convert 
upon a parity of situation with the Jewish, in 
respect of his religious condition, and his rank 
in the Divine favor." As this was the great 
question at issue, the apostle, like a wise phy- 
sician, addresses himself first to the cause of 
the disease, before he begins the local applica- 
tion. By a variety of arguments, he disabuses 
both parties of all hopes of salvation from them- 
selves, strips them of their fancied pleas, and 
shows them to themselves self-condemned and 
silent before God, while he establishes the great 
central truth of justification by faith in Christ. 
Here only could Jew and Gentile alike find 
peace ; and here, in finding peace with God, 
they became one with each other. The doc- 
trinal part of the epistle reaches to the close of 
the eleventh chapter. Having, at this point, 
completed his great argument for Christian 
unity, he occupies most of the remainder of the 
epistle in applying it. In chap. xii. he shows 
that such displays of mercy as Jews and Gen- 
tiles had received, should induce them, having 
first dedicated themselves to God, 1,2; to 
think humbly of themselves, 3 ; to look on all 
Christians as forming " one body in Christ," 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 41 

4, 5 ; to fill their respective offices in the 
Church so as most to subserve the general 
good, 6 — 8 ; and to let the law of love flow out 
into the various channels of cheerfulness, pa- 
tience, hospitality, mutual sympathy, humility, 
peacefulness, and a readiness to forgive. In 
chap xiii. he enforces the universal law of 
Christian love, 8 — 10 ; which turns the whole 
world into a neighborhood, and the whole 
Church into a family ; and which, so far from 
" working ill" to any, lives only for the good of 
all, and so " fulfils the whole law." From 
chap. xiv. we learn that in things indifferent 
Christians should not condemn each other, 1 ; 
particularly concerning ceremonial observances, 
2 — 6 ; for Christ alone is the Lord of con- 
science, 7 — 9. Instead, therefore, of judging 
each other, we should prepare for our own 
judgment at his tribunal, 10 — 13. Nor should 
we do any thing, meantime, calculated to dis- 
tress a weak or tender conscience, lest we 
" destroy one for whom Christ died," 14 — 10. 
Remembering that the kingdom of God con- 
sists not in outward things, but in the universal 
and imperishable elements of " righteousness, 
and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," Chris- 
tians should " follow after things which make 
for peace," and rather deny themselves certain 
privileges than be the means of grieving a 
weak brother, 17 — 21. 

Continuing this healing strain in chap xv., 
and thus evincing, by frequent iteration, his 
deep anxiety to see the Church at one, he 
exhorts the strong to bear the infirmities of 
the weak, and each to please not himself but 



42 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

his neighbor, 1, 2. Reminding Christians that 
such is the example of Christ, 3, 4 ; that our 
gratitude for him should blend all hearts, and 
call forth a united burst of praise, as if the 
whole Church were only " one mind, with one 
mouth glorifying God ;" that we should accept 
each other as Christ has received us, and be- 
cause of the gracious regard which he has 
shown to Jews and Gentiles in imparting to 
them the Gospel according to the tenor of 
ancient prophecy, 8 — 17 ; beseeching them for 
11 Christ's sake," if they will strive, to " strive 
together in prayer/' 30 ; and praying that 
" the God of peace " may be with them all, 33. 
Chap. xvi. beautifully opens with a number of 
Christian salutations to members of each of 
the two parties, by which the apostle would 
set them an example in his own person of mu- 
tual aud impartial love in Christ, 1 — 19. And 
after solemnly warning Christians to " mark 
them who cause divisions and offences contrary 
to the doctrine " of Christ, and to avoid them ; 
and giving an awful description of the charac- 
ter of such, 17, 18 ; he assures them that " the 
God of peace" shall soon enable them to 
trample Satan, the great disturber of the 
Church, under their feet, 20. 

The First Epistle to the Corinthians. 
— The very first topic on which the apostle felt 
himself called to insist, in addressing the mem- 
bers of the church at Corinth, relates to the 
factions into which they had divided. For no 
sooner has he expressed his gratitude to God 
for their affluence in spiritual gifts, than he 
proceeds to reprove their violent dissensions, 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 43 

and vindicates himself from having occasioned 
them, 10 — 17. And as he well knew that a 
fond regard for eloquence and philosophy was a 
principal cause of their divisions, he reminds 
them how little stress is to be laid on these, 
since the whole scheme of salvation is consti- 
tuted on the principle " that no flesh should 
glory in his presence." Hence the unostenta- 
tious style, but yet supernatural character of his 
own preaching, and of the Gospel generally, 
chap. ii. And hence, too, the carnality of 
their " envying, and strife, and divisions," in 
one saying, " I am of Paul ; and another, I am 
of Apollos." Chap. iii. 1 — 4. For he reminds 
them that he and his fellow-apostles are only 
instruments employed by God in the erection 
of the Christian temple ; that if any man turns 
that temple of God into a Babel by unhallowed 
clamors and divisions, " him will God destroy ;" 
and that as the Church is one, so all good is 
made indivisible and one, and as such, is the 
property of the believer in Christ, 5 — 23. Let 
them on every account, then, allay their proud 
and factious spirit, and he would come shortly 
to examine and correct the abuses which had 
crept in among them, chap. iv. 

But earnestly as the apostle would inculcate 
the unity of the Christian Church, not less is 
he concerned for its purity. Indeed he en- 
forces the latter in order to the former. For, 
if he pauses in the inculcation of unity at the 
close of the fourth chapter, it is only that, hav- 
ing denounced the sins of incest, pride, litigious- 
ness, fornication, and giving various directions 
concerning marriage, virginity, idolatrous fel- 
5 



44 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

lowship, and decorum in public worship, in the 
following six chapters, he may return to the 
subject of Christian union again in the eleventh 
chapter, with still greater effect. That this is 
his scope is evident, first, from his interspersed 
exhortations that no man should use his Chris- 
tian liberty so as to wound the conscience of a 
brother, chap. viii. 9 — 13; his accommodation 
of himself to the prejudices of men in order to 
bring about their salvation, ix. 18 — 23, and x. 
32, 33 ; his representation that " we, though 
many, are one bread and one body," x. 17 ; 
and, secondly, from his resuming the subject of 
schism as of primary importance, as soon as 
ever he has corrected their other irregularities. 
" For, first of all," saith he, " when ye come 
together in the church, I hear that there be 
divisions among you," xi. 18. Having endeav- 
ored to heal this schism as far as it related to 
the ordinance of the Lord's-supper, he proceeds 
to the subject of spiritual gifts, and shows that 
however great the diversities of these gifts may 
be, they all proceed from the same Divine 
source, and are intended for the benefit of the 
same body in which all Christians are united. 
" For by one Spirit are we all baptised into 
one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, 
whether we be bond or free ; and have been all 
made to drink into one Spirit." Chap. xii. 
1 — 14. Inculcating humility and mutual affec- 
tion in the use of those gifts, he pursues the 
similitude of the human body still further, rep- 
resents Christians as so united in one body as 
to have a perfect identity of interests, and in- 
sists on a tender care of the least member, on 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 45 

account of its subserviency to the good of the 
whole, 14 — 31. 

But that which is of far greater importance 
to the welfare and unity of the Christian 
Church, than the greatest opulence of gifts, is 
evangelical love. This paramount principle, by 
its humble, hallowed, enduring, and sympa- 
thetic influence, binds the whole Church to- 
gether, and assimilates earth to heaven, chap, 
xiii. Therefore let Christians " follow after 
charity," xiv. I ; and " all things" in the 
church will " be done decently and in order," 
40. In chap. xv. he extinguishes an incipient 
heresy by a masterly argument on the resur- 
rection ; exhorts them, instead of dividing into 
factions, to unite and enlarge their hearts for 
the relief of the poor Christians at Jerusalem, 
xvi. 1 — 4; and to let all their " things be done 
with charity," 14 ; concluding with the impar- 
tial and catholic benediction, " My love be with 
you all in Christ Jesus. Amen," 24. 

The Second Epistle to the Corinthi- 
ans. — In this epistle, the great desire of the 
apostle is to present the church at Corinth " as 
a chaste virgin to Christ," xi. 2 ; his great 
" fear, lest when he came .... he should 
find debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, back- 
bitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults," xii. 
20; his final admonition, that they "be per- 
fect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live 
in peace," xiii. 11 : and his last assurance that 
" the God of love and peace should be with 
them," 11. 

The Epistle to the . Galattans. — Soon 
after St. Paul had planted M the churches of 



46 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

Galatia," their harmony and orthodoxy were 
impaired by the seductive influence of a Juda- 
izing zealot. Having repelled his errors, prin- 
cipally, by demonstrating that Christ alone is 
the ground of our justification before God, he 
affirms that all the temporary distinctions of the 
Mosaic economy are merged, and that all be- 
lievers alike " are the children of God by faith 
in Christ Jesus ; ... for ye are all one in 
Christ Jesus," iii. 26 — 29. And having thus 
shown the superiority of the Gospel to Judaism, 
and its power to make all one, he inculcates 
love as the fulfilling of the only law that re- 
mains, v. 13, 14 ; warns them against those 
evil propensities of the flesh so fatal to the 
peace and oneness of the Church, and among 
which " hatred, variance, and emulations," are 
conspicuous; and enforces the cultivation of 
those fruits of the Spirit which assimilate the 
Church on earth to the Church in heaven, v. 
15—26. 

Epistle to the Ephesians. — As St. Paul 
was now a prisoner at Rome, in consequence 
of having provoked the Jews, by affirming that 
the observance of the Mosaic ritual was not 
essential to salvation, he may be regarded as 
the suffering champion of the liberty and union 
of the Church. As the church at Ephesus had 
been planted by his instrumentality, he had 
been apprehensive lest advantage should be 
taken of his imprisonment to unsettle the minds 
of its Gentile members. But finding they were 
at present united and firm in the faith, he 
seems to exult in his freedom from the neces- 
sity of controversy, and soars with a wing 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 47 

which sweeps the whole horizon of the Church, 
mounts from earth to heaven, and passes from 
the Ephesian church to the final consummation 
of all things. Entering at once on his favorite 
theme — the oneness of the Church — he dis- 
closes, with the first stroke of his inspired pen, 
the sublime design of God in the economy of 
the Gospel — " that in the dispensation of the 
fulness of times he might gather together in 
one all things in Christ, both which are in 
heaven, and which are on earth ; even in him ;" 
chap. i. 10 — and then unveils the throne of 
Christ on the summit of creation, where the 
Father hath exalted him " far above all princi- 
pality and power . . . and gave him to be the 
head over all things to the Church, which is 
his body," 21—23. To fill the Ephesians with 
the liveliest gratitude, they are led back, in 
thought, to the mouth of hell where God had 
found them ; are shown the hand of grace con- 
ducting them to Christ who sprinkles them 
with his blood, ii. 13 ; to the temple where he 
is seen breaking down the wall of partition be- 
tween Jew and Gentile " to make in himself, 
of twain, one new man, so making peace," 
14, 15 ; baptising them with " one Spirit," 18 ; 
naturalising, and making them free of the great 
Christian commonwealth ; and building them 
all into " a holy temple," so " harmoniously 
connected" as to be made indivisible, " Jesus 
Christ himself being the chief corner-stone," 
19—22. 

For the full and fearless assertion of this 
sublime truth, which was too vast for the nar- 
row minds of his bigoted countrymen, the 
5* 



48 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OP 

apostle was now " a prisoner," chap. iii. 1. 
But so far from disparaging it on this account, 
he would " make all men see it," 9 ; and all 
worlds admire it, 10 : and prays that the Ephe- 
sians especially may comprehend it ; — bowing 
his knees for this end " unto the Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family 
in heaven and earth is named" — not families, 
as if each order formed a distinct household — 
but " family," because, however numerous and 
diversified, they are all one in Christ. Nor can 
he conclude this chapter without an ardent 
breathing that the whole Church, without one 
jarring note, would employ itself, through 
Christ, in one perpetual song of praise to God, 
14—21. 

Now as all true Christians, and all holy in- 
telligences are thus intimately united, the 
apostle entreats the Ephesians to " keep the 
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," iv. 
1 — 3 ; reminding them, as a most powerful 
motive, that the entire Church constitutes but 
" one body," is pervaded by " one Spirit," and 
animated by " one hope ;" and that there is 
only "one Lord, one. faith, and one baptism," 
4 — 6. However distinguished from each other 
by the various offices and gifts bestowed by 
Christ on his enthronement, this variety is in- 
tended, not to separate, but to unite and com- 
plete them, 7 — 13. For as the human body is 
formed and matured by the union of all the 
members to each other under the head, and by 
the fitness of each member for its own office 
and place in the body, so the Church is formed 
and matured by the union of all its members 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 49 

under Christ its head, and by the sympathy of 
every part with the whole, 7 — 16. Let Chris- 
tians then distinguish themselves from the rest 
of the world by " putting away" all the malevo- 
lent passions, and by practising the most diffi- 
cult duties of charity, till they all walk in love 
as the " dear children" of him whose name is 
Love, 31, 32; chap. v. 1, 2. Indeed, the do- 
mestic circle is, in this respect, to copy the 
mutual subjection, sympathy, and union of the 
Christian Church. For so closely are we 
united to him and to each other, that " we are 
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his 
bones. Let the husband and the wife, then, 
behold in their own union, and in the love they 
owe to each other, memorials of the " great 
mystery .... concerning Christ and the 
Church," 21— 3*2. 

The Epistle to the Philtppians. — What- 
ever the immediate occasion of this epistle may 
have been, the tenderest fears of the apostle 
had been alarmed at hearing that the peace of 
the flourishing little church at Philippi was dis- 
turbed. The wound inflicted, indeed, does not 
appear to have been deep, but, oh, with what 
inimitable tenderness does he attempt to heal 
it. What pathos can exceed the yearning of 
his soul when entreating that church, " if there 
be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of 
love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any 
bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be 
like-minded, having the same love, being of 
one accord, of one mind?" an entreaty which 
he most touchingly enforces by the condescen- 
sion and love of their Divine Redeemer, ii. 1 — 



50 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

11. Let them, therefore, " beware ... be- 
ware . . . beware/' of those factious and tur- 
bulent persons who had disturbed their Chris- 
tian peace, by furiously contending for the 
observance of the Jewish ritual. In opposition 
to all such pretences, let them copy his own 
example by fixing their entire dependence on 
Christ, and aiming at the loftiest attainments 
in piety, iii. 1 — 14. This is the point in which 
all Christians are agreed ; and being agreed on 
that which is of primary importance, they 
should allow each other a latitude of amicable 
difference on that which is only of subordinate 
import ; let them do this, and even their sub- 
ordinate differences will soon disappear, 15, 16. 
Descending to particulars, the apostle entreats 
two individuals — between whom probably the 
dissension had existed — " that they be of the 
same mind in the Lord ;" exhorts the whole 
church to let their moderation — BTueweg, mu- 
tual forbearance and self-command, be univer- 
sally apparent, as they would not be found sunk 
in self-indulgence, or embroiled in quarrels, at 
the coming of Christ ; and promising them that 
God shall be with them as the God of peace, 
iv. 1—9. 

The Epistle to the Colossians. — The 
garden of the Lord at Colosse, hitherto " fruit- 
ful in every good work," was now beginning to 
be overrun with the weeds of Rabbinism and 
Platonism, together with the tenets and prac- 
tices of the Essenes. Though there is no pos- 
itive evidence that the apostle had enjoyed the 
honor of planting it, his assistance is desired to 
correct and remove the evils which infested it. 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 51 

In order, at once, to confirm their faith, enlarge 
their views, and promote their union, he opens 
to them the supreme and universal headship of 
Christ, i. 15 — 20. Here, first, as in the epistle 
to the Ephesians, all orders of holy intelligences 
are represented as collected, subordinated, and 
united under the mediatorial reign of Christ; 
even the angels who, as faithful subjects, had 
been morally arrayed against rebellious man, 
are now reconciled to us, and made one. And, 
here, secondly, descending to the Church on 
earth, the Jews and Gentiles — between whom 
an irreconcileable difference had hitherto sub- 
sisted — appear harmonised together. To see 
that union in Christ universal, the apostle 
agonised in desire and effort, ii. 1, 2. To pre- 
vent their disunion, he entreats them to beware 
of all the errors of men " not holding the Head, 
from which all the body by joints and bands, hav- 
ing nourishment ministered, and knit together, 
increaseth with the increase of God," 19. For 
the Church of Christ, so far from originating 
new distinctions, is intended to merge and 
efface old ones, for " Christ is all, and in all." 
And then, thirdly, narrowing the subject still 
farther, till he had brought all its practical 
weight to bear on the particular church he was 
addressing, the apostle beautifully and emphat- 
ically sums up all in the exhortation, " Put on 
therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, 
bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of 
mind, meekness, long suffering ; forbearing 
one another, and forgiving one another, if any 
man have a quarrel against any : even as 
Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And over 



52 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

all these things put on charity, which is the 
bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God 
rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are 
called in one body ; and be ye thankful," iii. 
11—15. 

The First and Second Epistles to the 
Thessalonians. — The church at Thessalonica 
was the abode of peace. Here the voice of 
faction had never been heard : nor had the 
Holy Spirit of God been grieved by the least 
disturbance of that sacred calm in which he 
loves to dwell. All was tranquillity, unity, and 
love. We should not have been surprised, 
therefore, if the apostle, in writing to its mem- 
bers, had omitted to introduce his favorite 
theme, and had confined himself entirely to the 
immediate object of his epistle. But, no ; so 
greatly is he delighted with the " good tidings" 
of their " faith and charity," that he stops to 
exult in it, and longs to witness it, iii. 6 — 11. 
As if, however, no degree of union of which 
the Church is capable on earth were close 
enough to satisfy his heavenly conceptions of 
Christian oneness, he prays, t( the Lord make 
you to increase and abound in love one towards 
another, and towards all men," 12. Nor yet is 
his avarice of love satisfied : for, saith he, " as 
touching brotherly love ye need not that 1 write 
unto you : for ye yourselves are taught of God 
to love one another. And indeed ye do it 
toward all the brethren who are in all Mace- 
donia ; but we beseech you, brethren, that ye 
increase more and more," iv. 9, 10. Divine 
as their love was in its origin, mutual as it was 
in its exercise, and comprehensive as it was in 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 53 

its embraces, taking in all the brethren of all 
the other churches in all Macedonia, he would 
yet see it enlarge in its objects, and increase in 
its ardor, till it had encircled and bound the 
whole Church into one compacted globe of love. 
And that nothing might ever occur to retard 
their progress towards so glorious a consumma- 
tion, he charges them to exercise affection and 
reverence towards their Christian teachers ; 
watchfulness and sympathy towards each other ; 
and patience and beneficence towards all, v. 
13—15. 

His second epistle is intended to correct a 
partial misapprehension of the first. Yet so 
far is he from omitting the mention of Christian 
unity that, although nothing had occurred 
meantime to disturb it, he makes it the first 
subject of exulting gratitude to God, i. 3 ; and 
the last subject of earnest prayer, " Now the 
Lord of peace himself give you peace always 
by all means," iii. 16. 

The Epistles to Timothy. — The charac- 
ter and office of Timothy would necessarily in- 
vest him with great influence. Having to " do 
the work of an evangelist," he would be con- 
stantly moving among the churches ; the apostle 
therefore was anxious that, among other objects, 
he should move in the ecclesiastical firmament 
like a star, connecting, and cheering, and shed- 
ding a benign influence on them all. For this 
end, he charges him to avoid the subtle distinc- 
tions, and endless logomachies, which were be- 
ginning to obtain among those professing godli- 
ness, as unprofitable in themselves, and fatal to 
the peace of the Church, 1 Epist. i. 4 ; vi. 20 ; 



54 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

2 Epist. ii. 23 ; predicts the arrival of times 
when the Church would be infested with all 
the elements of formality, heresy, schism, and 
apostacy, 2 Epist. iii. 1 — 9 ; iv. 3, 4 ; and 
exhorts Timothy to avoid such " self-willed," 
" fierce," " evil men and seducers," as pests of 
the Church, 1 Epist. i. 6, 7 ; vi. 3 — 5 ; to fol- 
low after charity, 1 Epist. vi. 11 ; 2 Epist. ii. 
22 ; to be an example of charity, 1 Epist. iv. 
12 ; to look on charity as " the end of the 
commandment" — the complement or fulfilment 
of the law, 1 Epist. i. 6 ; and to regard a spirit 
of love as an indispensable qualification in all 
those whom he assisted to place in any of the 
offices of the Christian Church, 1 Epist. iii. 2, 
3 ; 2 Epist. ii. 24, 25. And he also distinctly 
intimates what the Church should be ; not an 
arena of controversy, where every word is a 
weapon ; not a battle-field, where one side 
speaks only to breathe defiance against the 
other ; but " a house," I Epist. iii. 15 ; 2 Epist. 
ii. 20, 21 ; " the house of God," of which the 
Jewish temple was an emblem ; and in which 
all the family of God, so far from contending 
among themselves, should unite and make com- 
mon cause for the conversion of the world; 
that " all men," in answer to the " supplica- 
tions, prayers, and intercessions," offered up 
through " one Mediator," " who gave himself a 
ransom for all, to be testified in due time," 
might join them as members of the same happy 
family, 1 Epist. ii. I — 6. 

The Epistle to Titus. — In the Epistle to 
Titus, the same duties are inculcated relative 
to the peace and unity of the Church as in the 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 55 

epistles to Timothy. If the affectionate union 
of believers is a blessing to be jealously pre- 
served, how important that the teachers and 
officers of the Christian Church should in their 
own persons abstain from all acrimonious con- 
tentions, should exemplify a spirit imbued with 
the gentleness and benevolence of Christ, and 
should inculcate the same spirit upon others. 
Accordingly, the apostle, ever provident of the 
harmony and welfare of the Church, directs 
Titus to avoid that fruitful source of altercation 
the Jewish controversy, i. 14 ; iii. 9 ; instructs 
him that a bishop must " not be self-willed, not 
soon angry, but .... a lover of good men," 
(pdayudov, a lover of goodness, wherever he 
finds it, i. 7, 8 ; and charges him to enforce on 
Christians " to speak evil of no man, to be no 
brawlers, but gentle, showing meekness unto 
all men, iii. 2 ; urging the duty by the consid- 
eration of their own former depravity, and of 
the amazing scheme of mercy by which " God 
our Saviour" has redeemed us. 

The Epistle to Philemon. — The epistle 
of St. Paul to Philemon, though written only to 
a private Christian on a private subject, con- 
tains principles which, if expanded, would fill 
the universal Church with love. Like a cool 
and balmy leaf fresh plucked from the tree of 
life, it is presented by an apostolic hand to heal 
a chafed and perturbed spirit. It is almost im- 
possible to peruse it, without catching the melt- 
ing tenderness and healing spirit which it 
breathes. The very occasion which produced 
it conveys a lesson which, so far from permit- 
ting a spirit of altercation and division in our- 
6 



56 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

selves, teaches us to do all we can to allay 
animosities, and to reconcile others who are at 
variance. But this lesson is more than im- 
plied. For though there is but one topic of 
gratitude introduced, that one is the love which 
unites each Christian with every other, and 
blends the whole into one Church, 4 — 7. 

The Epistle to the Hebrews. — The 
design of the sacred writer in this epistle is to 
demonstrate the pre-eminence of Christ, to in- 
fer the necessary superiority of the Christian to 
the Jewish dispensation, and to exhibit the 
consequent absurdity and guilt of leaving the 
former for the sake of the latter. But one of 
the excellences of the Mosaic economy was, 
that it organised all its members into a united 
" commonwealth, " or Church. The apostle 
therefore shows that the Gospel does the same 
in a superior manner. All Christians are 
" brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling ;" 
forming " a house, " or great temple-structure, 
of which Moses himself is only a living stone, 
while Christ is the Builder ; over the Christian 
house, Christ is supreme, uniting in his indi- 
vidual person the offices which in the Jewish 
economy were distributed among many, and 
thus giving to his Church one unchangeable 
centre, iii. 1 — 6. Especially is he to be re- 
garded as the " High Priest over the house of 
God," so much superior in every respect to the 
Aaronic priesthood, that all Christians are laid 
under the weightiest obligations entirely to 
confide in him, to cultivate purity, to hold fast 
their profession, exhort and help each other, 
and to maintain Christian communion, x. 21 — 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 57 

25. Indeed, the Christian Church is not only 
united in its own members, it is a constituent 
part of that great organic body of which the 
Jewish church itself is only an integral part ; 
and which will not be considered complete till 
the believers of all dispensations are gathered 
into one perfect Church, xi. 40. Being there- 
fore encompassed with so great a cloud of wit- 
nesses, let them see us, among other things, 
u follow after peace with all men" — Jews and 
Gentiles — one on earth as they are one in 
heaven. Let us even regard the Church mili- 
tant as having come to the Church triumphant 
so as to form one general assembly like that of 
the Jews at Sinai or on Sion, xii. 22 — 24. 
And having been introduced into the final dis- 
pensation — " a kingdom which cannot be 
moved," 28 ; let us recognise the identity of 
our interets, " let brotherly love continue," xiii. 
1 — 3. For " here we have no continuing city, 
but we seek one to come," 14. Let all Chris- 
tian pastors and people look on themselves as 
forming one flock, to which " the Great Shep- 
herd" is related by " the blood of the everlast- 
ing covenant ;" and " the God of peace" will 
bring them to perfection, 20, 21. 

The General Epistle of James. — In this 
epistle we hear a new voice lifted up to hush 
the troubled elements of the Church. " The 
twelve tribes scattered abroad" were not only 
exposed to the persecutions of an apostate 
world, but were also in danger of being wasted 
by errors and evils among themselves. To 
staunch the bleeding wounds of the Church, 
the Apostle James exhorts them, among other 



58 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

duties, to remember the equalising tendency of 
the Gospel in a moral respect between the rich 
and the poor, chap. i. 9, 10 ; to receive the 
word of God with meekness, and to reduce it to 
practice, avoiding that fierce and fiery zeal 
which would fi!l the Church with flames for the 
honor of God ; and remembering that practical 
religion consists in personal purity and relative 
benevolence, 19 — 27. He charges them to 
show no partiality inconsistent with the Gospel 
of Christ ; declares that such partiality is a 
breach of the royal law of love, ii. 1 — 9 ; and 
insists on the insufficiency of any faith which 
does not work by love, 14 — 26. He cautions 
them, therefore, against ambitiously assuming 
the office of teachers ; enlarges on the fatal 
effects of an unbridled tongue ; and urges a 
candid, benevolent disposition, guarding them 
against censoriousness and animosities ; and 
against that love of the world which tends to 
produce them, iii., iv. ? 1—5. And then re- 
minding them that to " speak evil of a brother, 
and to judge him," is to usurp the prerogative 
of God and to affront the high authority of his 
law, 11 ; the apostle once more cautions them 
to " grudge not one against another, v. 9, but 
mutually to unbosom themselves in social con- 
fession ; to become intercessors for each other 
at the throne of grace ; and, instead of leaving 
a wanderer from the truth to perish, to try the 
mighty efficacy of prayer for his conversion. 
Thus would the apostle awaken in each be- 
liever a generous interest for all the rest, and 
have him to regard himself as an appointed 
guardian of the whole. Is it the sublime^dec- 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 59 

laration of Christ that of all which the Father 
hath given him he will lose nothing? in an in- 
ferior sense, the individual Christian is not only 
to watch over the welfare and safety of the 
entire Church, but, according to the apostle 
James, he is never to see a solitary wanderer 
from the fold of Christ without wrestling in 
prayer with God for his recovery ; that he 
being restored to the Church, the Church may 
be restored to its entireness. 

The General Epistles of Peter. — All the 
Christians " scattered throughout Pontus, Gala- 
tia, Cappadocia, Asia andBithynia, having puri- 
fied their souls in obeying the truth through the 
Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren/' are 
here exhorted to Ct love one another with a pure 
heart fervently;" being born again into the same 
spiritual family, i. 1 — 22, 23. Laying aside all 
those evil dispositions which would keep them at 
a distance from God and from each other, they 
are to come to Christ the living foundation, that, 
as living stones, they might be built up on him 
and united to each other, with all the compact- 
ness and oneness of a spiritual temple. In this 
temple — by an easy transition of metaphor — 
they are ordained to officiate harmoniously to- 
gether at the altar of God. For, in a sense far 
superior to Israel of old, they " are a chosen 
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 
a peculiar people" — titles which imply the 
greatest similarity and the closest union, ii. 
1 — 10. He exhorts them, therefore, " be ye 
all of one mind, having compassion one of 
another; love as brethren," iii. 8 — 11. And 
again he repeats, " above all things have fer- 
6* 



60 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

vent charity among yourselves, for charity shall 
cover the multitude of sins" — throwing its 
mantle over them, and hiding them from pub- 
lic view ; while he would have all the gifts 
and graces of each placed as in a common 
fund, and employed for the benefit of the 
whole, iv. 8 — 11. 

The same cpdadelcpia, or, love of the brethren, 
so earnestly inculcated in the first epistle, is 
urged again in the very opening exhortation 
of the second, and placed among the highest 
attainments of Christian excellence. For when 
all diligence has been giveu to acquire faith, 
virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, and 
godliness — brotherly-kindness and charity are 
essential to use, embellish, and crown the 
whole, i. 5—7. 

The Epistles of John. — On the first of 
these epistles, three preliminary remarks de- 
serve attention. First, its title as a catholic 
epistle : reminding us that, as it is inscribed 
without limitation to the universal Church, all 
the members of that Church are supposed to be 
one on the great principles which it inculcates. 
This remark, indeed, might have been made, 
in a qualified sense, concerning the three pre- 
ceding epistles. But this epistle is not in- 
scribed, as they are, to the faithful of a particu- 
lar class, but addressed to the Church universal 
to the end of time. Second, its avowed and 
specific design — " these things write we unto 
you that ye also may have fellowship with us ;" 
implying that Christian benevolence is not ex- 
clusive but expansive, and that it pants to be- 
hold the entire body of the faithful in fellow- 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 61 

ship. And, thirdly, its pervading spirit of 
affection, worthy of him who leaned on the 
bosom of incarnate compassion, and meriting 
for it the name of " a treatise of love." Here, 
the Church is a temple, the God of which is 
love ; the services of which are love ; and in 
which all the assembly are M little children," 
listening to the paternal breathings of a patri- 
archal apostle, entreating them with the reitera- 
tions and overflowings of tender importunity to 
" love one another." 

On the unity of the Christian Church this 
epistle is decisive. It teaches us that " fellow- 
ship with the Father and with his Son Jesus 
Christ," is fellowship with each other, i. 1 — 4. 
After repeating the " old" and " new command- 
ment," it pronounces a want of brotherly love 
to be utterly incompatible with walking " in 
the light," ii. 9 — 11. " For this is the mes- 
sage that ye heard from the beginning, that ye 
love one another :" from which the apostle 
takes occasion to denounce the man who hates 
his brother as a murderer ; to show that bro- 
therly love is essential to prove that we have 
passed from death unto life ; and that our love, 
instead of being professional merely, should in- 
duce us liberally to relieve the distressed, and 
even if necessary to die for them ; urging it by 
the consideration that Christ died for us, iii. 
10 — 23. He states that one of the criterions 
by which antichrist is known is by the absence 
of brotherly love ; and enforces mutual affection 
from the love of God in giving his Son to die 
for sinners, and from that sense of consistency 
which requires that he who loves God, love his 



62 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

brother also, iv. 7 — 21. Besides which, if we 
are born of God we shall love all those who, 
like ourselves, have been begotten of him ; so 
that brotherly love is an essential sign of re- 
generation, v. 1 — 3. Indeed, in one chapter 
the apostle sums up the whole of evangelical 
duty by declaring, " this is the commandment, 
that we should believe on the name of his Son 
Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave 
us commandment/' iii. 23. And in the follow- 
ing he intimates, that all relative religion is 
comprised in " this commandment, That he 
who loveth God love his brother also/' iv. 21. 

The second epistle of John is an epitome of 
the first ; in which he earnestly enforces " the 
commandment which we had from the begin- 
ning, that we love one another," 5. 

From the third epistle we learn that kindness 
to Christians, as such, engages the Divine com- 
mendation, while a spirit of turbulence, slander, 
and overbearing ambition in the Church, in- 
curs the Divine displeasure, 5 — 11. 

The General Epistle of Jlde. — In this 
epistle we are taught that there is a " common 
salvation ;" that for the preservation of this 
chartered gift, in which all Christians have an 
equal interest, we are earnestly to contend ; 
that self-willed, contentious, scandalous pro- 
fessors, relinquish their interest in it, and 
" separate themselves," by so doing, from the 
true Church ; and that Christians, considering 
their exposure to this danger, and its conse- 
quences, should make common cause, labor to 
secure their own confirmation in faith and love, 
do nothing to hasten the fall of the erring, but, 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 63 

on the contrary, " save them with fear, pulling 
them out of the fire." 

Revelation. — In this mysterious book, the 
Christian Church, under whatever aspect she 
appears, is represented as one. Assailed by 
persecution, she is seen as " a woman" fleeing 
" into the wilderness," xii. 1. When assailed 
by another form of evil, the Church is i( a 
camp" and " a city," xx. 9. In a state of dis- 
tinguished prosperity, she is " the bride, the 
Lamb's wife," xxi. 9. And when enjoying her 
final triumph, one song engages and unites 
every voice of saints and angels ; one vision of 
glory " in the midst of the throne" attracts 
every eye; and one spot before the throne re- 
ceives their several crowns. 

By indulging thus freely in Scripture quota- 
tion, and attempting so extended an analysis of 
the inspired epistles, the end gained is mani- 
fold. We are thus taking our cause, at once, 
into the only court in the universe competent 
to pronounce on its merits ; and, while yet 
standing on the threshold, we are bowing in 
reverential homage to its supreme authority. 
We are acquainting ourselves with the ample 
space which it occupies in the word of God ; 
with the impressive manner in which it is there 
introduced, and the hallowed spirit in which it 
is treated ; while we see how constantly the 
subject occupied the mind of the Son of God ; 
how regularly it presented itself to the minds of 
his apostles when bowing at the throne of grace, 
or when writing, under a higher dictation, to 
the primitive churches ; of what vast impor- 
tance it must be in the estimation of that Holy 



64 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

Spirit under whose inspiration they wrote, and 
by whose provident superintendence it is insep- 
arably inwrought into the very texture of the sa- 
cred page. Like persons about to enter some 
ancient temple, we hope, by acquainting our- 
selves first with its eventful history, and by 
lingering awhile in its outer courts, that our 
spirits will be prepared to enter, and will har- 
monise with the sacredness of the same. 

But these ends have been gained incidental- 
ly, while aiming to establish our chief position 
— the unity of the Church. As the result of 
our investigations on this doctrine, we find that 
the Temple of Revelation is pictured over on 
all sides by the hand of the Spirit, with illustra- 
tions of its truth, and proofs of its importance. 
Following the steps of inspired guidance, we 
find that the subject is distributed into three 
principal compartments, in each of which Christ 
is the central object. In the first of these, an 
apostle points us to a scene where at a height 
far above all heavens sits the Only-begotten of 
the Father on the throne of the universe. Be- 
fore him, and stretching away into interminable 
space, appear the thrones and dominions and 
principalities and powers — comprising the un- 
fallen intelligences of heaven, and the number 
which no man can number, saved from the 
earth — all radiant with his glory, living in his 
smiles, and joined in his praise. This, we 
learn, is the archetype in the eternal mind, to 
which in the dispensation of the fullness of 
times he will gather together in one all things 
in Christ. 

In the second, the scene of which is on earth, 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 65 

we recognise the Catholic Church of the re- 
deemed. Here Christ appears again in the 
centre and foreground, assuming humanity as 
their representative, issuing his commands, 
praying, dying, that they all might be one. 
Here all dispensational distinctions are abolish- 
ed ; " the Gospel is preached unto Abraham," 
rendering him, in effect, if not in name, a Chris- 
tian ; and " he is the Jew who is one inwardly," 
rendering the Christian " an Israelite indeed." 
Here no natural distinctions remain ; " the Bar- 
barian, Scythian, bond and free," wear alike 
the righteousness and the name of Christ. Here 
Adam, and the last of his race, embrace each 
other, and rejoice in the image of " the second 
Adam, the Lord from heaven." Here, in one 
part, the Church is represented as a temple, 
and we easily discern the additions made to the 
structure in each successive dispensation, and 
admire the perfect manner in which the several 
parts mutually depend, and combine to support 
and connect the whole. In another, the col- 
lective Church appears under the likeness of a 
human body, in which we not only mark the 
fitness of each member for its peculiar office, 
and the union of all to each other, but admire 
how the whole body has in all ages been grow- 
ing to a " perfect man" — a colossal stature of 
sanctified humanity, with Christ for its vital 
and glorified Head. And, in another, the 
Catholic Church is collected together as a lov- 
ing family, in which each member seems to 
live only to study the welfare and reflect the 
happiness of his brethren. While, in different 
parts of the great family, apostles are seen pre- 



66 THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF 

senting letters, dictated by the Spirit, and in- 
scribed to " all them that are in Christ Jesus." 
The third compartment represents particular 
churches ; some of which are receiving apos- 
tolic congratulations on their union and pros- 
perity ; others, are evidently listening with omin- 
ous delight to the whispers of slander, and the 
plausible sophistries of error, while friendly and 
anxious countenances are turned on them in 
warning, expostulation, and pity ; and others 
have separated into factious groups, and con- 
verted the sanctuary into an arena of angry de- 
bate, from which the grieved Spirit of love is 
departing, and where an infernal hand is seen 
scattering abroad firebrands, arrows, and death. 
Among each of these classes are messengers 
inspired from heaven, reminding them that they 
have " one Lord, one faith, one baptism f* 
showing them that they cannot indulge in mu- 
tual mistrust or aversion without bursting one 
or other of the cords of love which constitute 
the bond of peace; praying for the reconcilia- 
tion and reunion of such as are alienated ; 
weeping over the obstinacy of that alienation^ 
or else rejoicing in its removal ; pointing them 
to the cross as the magnet of all hearts ; and 
showing them that by coming to it they have 
come to the rendezvous of all the just, to the 
general assembly and Church of the first-born 
whose names are written in heaven. What 
other impression then can we derive from the 
survey than this, that unity is a sign of the true 
Church, and that so complete is this unity, that 
the atom does not more certainly form an inte- 
gral portion of the material universe than the 



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 67 

meanest and obscurest believer has his appoint- 
ed place and portion in the one great family 
which is gathering together in Christ ? so that 
unscripturally to expel a single Christian, or to 
disturb the harmony of a single church, is to 
break the peace of the universe. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY ; OR, WHEREIN 
THE ONENESS OF THE CHURCH CONSISTS. 

From the preceding examination of Scrip- 
ture it appears, that unity is one of the essen- 
tial characteristics of the Christian Church. 
We proceed to inquire, in the next place, what 
we are to understand by that unity which is 
thus represented as blending all the faithful in- 
to one community. 

I. And here it is natural for us to glance, 
first, at some of the ideas which have more or 
less obtained, and at the attempts which at dif- 
ferent times have been made in the Church to 
realise this union. Forjf, on bringing them to 
the test of Scripture, either of them shall prove 
in accordance with that only standard, our in- 
quiry will be ended, and our object gained ; if, 
however, when weighed in the Divine balan- 
ces, they are found wanting, we shall be justi- 
fied in dismissing them entirely from our minds, 
and our way will be cleared for further inquiry. 

1. Some have sought to unite the Church 
by equalising all its members in every respect; 
by establishing an ultra-democracy which should 



THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 69 

dispense with all official distinctions, and con- 
sequent subordination. But, besides that no 
society can exist without order, and order sup- 
poses discipline, and discipline government, it 
is evident that the Christian union inculcated 
in Scripture is quite compatible with the great- 
est diversity of official distinctions, and of spir- 
itual gifts. For not only did our ascended 
Lord give " some, apostles ; and some, pro- 
phets ; and some, evangelists; and some, pas- 
tors and teachers ;" but he gave them expressly 
to promote the union and welfare of his body 
the Church — gave them " for the perfecting of 
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the 
edifying of the body of Christ." And that 
some, at least, of these offices were not intend- 
ed to be confined to the primitive Church is 
evident, for they are to be continued " till we 
all come in the unity of the faith, and of the 
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect 
man, unto the measure of the stature of the ful- 
ness of Christ." Official distinctions in the 
Church then consist with its perfect oneness, 
and are essential to it. 

Others have professed to unite the Church 
by adopting the opposite extreme. Taking the 
platform of the military government of Rome* 
for its model, and, indeed, in many respects, 
taking its place, the Romish church built up, 
in hierarchal order, a towering structure of ec- 
clesiastical grandeur, gradation above gradation 
— a living pyramid — on whose summit was en- 
throned a ruling mind, and at whose base 

* See Cave's Primitive Christianity. 



70 THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 

stretched out the kneeling and obedient world. 
This was spiritual despotism, in its " pride of 
place," mistaking professed submission for vital 
union. But even that submission was only ap- 
parent ; for, as we shall hereafter have occa- 
sion to show, the elements of resistance and re- 
pulsion were so often in activity, that — strange 
anomaly ! — the world was occasionally called 
in to give peace to the Church. Had that sub- 
mission to the Pope, however, instead of being 
only apparent and partial, been universal and 
complete, the power that enforced it would still 
have wanted that sine qua non of all official 
authority in the Church — the warrant of its 
Divine Head. But had he willed a unity of 
this nature, his apostles would of course have 
enjoined and enforced it. Yet when discours- 
ing expressly on the unity of the Church, con- 
cerning such a constitution they are silent. 
They even specify the nature of the fellowship 
they enjoin — that it is to consist of faith, of 
love, and of common obedience to the will of 
Christ — but not a word do they utter concern- 
ing a universal government under one visible 
head. So far were they from connecting to- 
gether the churches of various lands, by the 
appointment of one official head, that they did 
not connect together, in this way, the churches 
even of the same province. Indeed, the state 
of the political world, at the time, rendered the 
subjection of the universal Church to one visi- 
ble head, utterly impracticable. And when in 
process of time that mockery of a union was at- 
tempted, it excited the earnest deprecation of 



THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 71 

some of those who were apparently most inter- 
ested in its success.* 

In some periods and sections of the Church, 
attempts have been made to blend Christians 
into one body by enforcing universally the same 
discipline, government, and ceremonies of wor- 
ship. This was mistaking uniformity for union. 
This our Lord himself forbore ; and forbore as 
inconsistent with the universal design of his 
new economy. For, while a minute and un- 
bending ritual, like that of the Jewish, is admi- 
rably adapted to distinguish a people from the 
rest of the world, the system that proposes to 
unite all nations in a common brotherhood, 
should possess the simplicity and self-adjusting 
nature of a general principle. Accordingly, 
our Lord, having discharged us from the cares 
and vexatious obligations of the ancient ceremo- 
nial, enacts a code of more generous authority, 
prescribes only that which is absolutely neces- 
sary, and leaves us to learn our duty from facts 

* Ego autem fidenter dico, &c. " I confidently 
affirm," says Gregory I., (lib. 6., Ep. 30.) " that who- 
ever calls himself Universal Bishop, or desires to be so 
called, is a forerunner of antichrist, because he proud- 
ly sets himself above all others." See also denuncia- 
tions of the same attempt at supremacy, in his 4th, 6th, 
and 7th Epistles. 

" Oh that there were none of this presidency !" ex- 
claims Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat 2i.) "none of this 
pre-eminence of place, and arrogant aiming at preroga- 
tive !" Superbum nimis est, &c. " It is too arrogant 
and immoderate for any one to pass beyond his own 
proper sphere, and in despite of antiquity to invade the 
rights of others, and assail the primacies of so many 
metropolitans for the purpose of aggrandising the dig- 
nity of one." — Leo, I., Ep. 55. 

7* 



72 THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 

and examples, rather than from formal precepts. 
Treading in the footsteps of their Lord, the 
apostles exhibited the same noble superiority, 
where principle was not concerned, to all the 
detail of ecclesiastical observance. With the 
Jewish Christian, they could shave the head 
and practice circumcision : and with the Gen- 
tile Christian they could disparage both.* The 
same hand that adjusted the yoke on the neck 
of the former, because he believed he ought to 
wear it, tenderly and promptly removed it from 
the latter, because his conscience was galled by 
the imposition. Thus evincing, that unbroken 
uniformity of discipline and ceremonies is by 
no means essential to Christian union. f 

# " And this so continued, that fifteen Christian 
bishops, in succession, were circumcised, even until 
the destruction of Jerusalem, under Adrian, as Euse- 
bius reports God tolerated them in their er- 
ror, till time and a continual dropping of the lessons 

and dictates apostolical did wear it out And 

in the descent of so many years, I find not any one 

anathema passed upon any one of the bishops 

of Jerusalem or the believers of the circumcision ; and 

yet it was a point as clearly determined as any 

of those questions that at this day vex and crucify 
Christendom." — Jeremy Taylor's Liberty of Prophesy- 
ing. 

t Actum suum disponit et dirigit unusquisque Epis- 
copus, &c. (Cyp. Ep. 52.) Every bishop orders and 
directs his own acts, having to render an account of 
his proceedings to the Lord. 

The conscience of his people assisting, (sub populi 
assistentis conscientia, Ep. 78,) every bishop hath in 
the government of his church the free power of his 
will, having to render an account of his own act unto 
the Lord. (Ep. 72.) 

" This Aurovc/xtoL, and liberty of churches, doth ap- 



THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 73 

And attempts have been made also to find 
this union in identity of opinion on all points of 
faith and practice.* But while, as we shall 
presently show, there are certain essential re- 
quisites, without which a man cannot be a 
Christian, and without which a society cannot 
be a church, yet beyond these central truths 

pear to have long continued in practice inviolate ; al- 
though tempered and modelled in accommodation to 
the circumstances of time and place." — Barroio's Dis- 
course concerning the Unity of the Church. But that 
the difference of observances which this liberty occa- 
sioned was regarded as perfectly compatible with 
Christian union, see Aug. Ep. 86. Cyp. Ep. 75. Iren. 
ajmd Euseb v. 24. Socr. v. 22 ; vii. 19. 

* " The first Christians used no written Creed ; the 
Confession of Faith which was held necessary for sal- 
vation, was delivered to children or converts, by word 
of mouth, and intrusted to their memory. Moreover, 
in the several independent churches, the rule of faith 
was liable to some slight changes, according to the 
opinion and discretion of the Bishop presiding in each. 
Hence it arose, that when the creeds of those numer- 
ous communities came at length to be written and 
compared together, they were found to contain some 
variations ; this was natural and necessary ; but when 
we add, that those variations were for the most part 
merely verbal, and in no instance involved any ques- 
tion of essential importance, we advance a truth which 
will seem strange to those who are familiar with the 
angry disputations of later ages. But the fact is easily 
accounted for — the earlier pastors of the Church drew 
their belief from the Scripture itself, as delivered to 
them by writing or preaching, and they were content- 
ed to express that belief in the language of Scripture. 
They were not curious to investigate that which is not 
clearly revealed, but they adhered firmly and faithfully 
to that which they knew to be true ; therefore their va- 
riations were without schism, and their differences 
without acrimony." — Waddingtori s Church History. 



74 THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 

there is a large circle where opinion is allowed 
to walk at large, and where Christian charity 
finds an appropriate sphere for bearing, believ- 
ing, and hoping all things. Diversity of opinion 
on many points is not only to be accounted for, 
but is even necessitated by differences of mental 
constitution, by varieties of education, by the 
influence of early and peculiar associations, and 
by a thousand other causes too subtle to be 
traced, and too personal and unique to be de- 
scribed ; and is only in harmony with all the 
works of Him who combines the greatest varie- 
ty of accident and form with unity of principle 
and design. So that if the man does not re- 
linquish his rationality on becoming a Chris- 
tian, but retains his right to use it; and if a 
church is to be a society of thinking as well as 
of" faithful" men, a perfect and universal iden- 
tity of sentiment is neither to be expected nor 
desired. Nor does the Bible demand it. This 
is evident from the language of the apostle in 
his epistle to the Romans. " Him that is weak 
in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful dis- 
putations. For one believeth that he may eat 
all things : another, who is weak, eateth herbs. 
Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth 
not ; and let not him who eateth not judge him 
that, eateth : for God hath received him. ,,# 
Here are two classes of Christians — in the same 
church — differing on a doubtful point. And 
the fact to be remarked is, that the apostle does 
not disclose which was right by deciding the 
question at issue. But, denouncing their mu- 

* Rom. xiv. 1—3. 



THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 75 

tual want of charity, he approves the conscien- 
tiousness of each ; encourages both to retain 
their respective opinions ; and exhorts them, 
notwithstanding this diversity, to be united and 
one ; assigning as the great reason why each 
should receive the other, that God hath re- 
ceived HIM. 

In his epistle to the Philippians, he treats a 
similar difference, in a similar way. " Let us 
therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus mind- 
ed ; and if in any thing ye be otherwise mind- 
ed, God shall reveal even this unto you. Never- 
theless, teller eto ice have already attained, let 
us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same 
thing."* From which we learn that up to a 
certain point they agreed ; that beyond that 
point they differed ; that by walking harmoni- 
ously together as far as they agreed, they might 
hope, by aid from on high, to see the point of 
coincidence extended farther and farther. The 
great lesson, therefore, which the Church is to 
infer is, that perfect identity of sentiment is not 
necessary to Christian union, but that Christian 
union is necessary, or, at least, eminently con- 
ducive to that coincidence of opinion. 

II. Now if none of these plans is Christian 
unity, nor essential to it, let us inquire, in the 
next place, wherein does it consist. And we 
observe, first, that the foundation of a scriptural 
union among Christians is laid in the belief of 
those truths which are essential to our union 
with Christ. Here, we presume, the following 
propositions will be admitted as soon as read ; 

* Phil. hi. 15, 16. 



76 THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 

— that Christianity, in common with every other 
system, contains some principles which serve at 
once to identify and distinguish it; — that as the 
inculcation of morality is not peculiar to the 
Gospel, its essence must be sought for in that 
in which it is peculiar — in being a remedial 
system, a provision of mercy for a sinful world 
through a Divine Mediator ; and that as Chris- 
tianity is a provision of mercy, its fundamental 
truths may be expected to be few and simple, if 
only to be in accordance with its kind and com- 
passionate design. 

But how are these truths, few and simple as 
they may be, to be discriminated and determin- 
ed ? Had this question never engaged our at- 
tention before, we should naturally adopt some 
or all of the following methods ; we should in- 
quire whether, on a devout and careful perusal 
of the Gospel as a whole, Christians generally 
have received an identity of impression as to its 
scope and design ; — whether it contained with- 
in its pages any thing professing to be an epito- 
me or abridgment of the system which it 
reveals ; — whether the apostolic preaching con- 
tained any one leading feature ; — or, whether 
the question of fundamental truth was ever agi- 
tated in apostolic times, and determined by 
apostolic authority. Now, on adopting this 
course of inquiry, we not only obtain replies ; 
and these replies not merely agree ; but, by the 
unanimous verdict of the orthodox Church, they 
all prove to be one ; and that one, the doctrine 
of justification by faith in the atoning sacrifice 
of Christ. 

Let us hear the final commission which our 






THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 77 

Lord gave to his apostles when he charged 
them with the duty of evangelising the world ; 
— they were to " preach repentance, and the re- 
mission of sins, in his name, among all nations." 
If we inquire of St. Paul the subject of his 
preaching, he replies, " Christ, and him cruci- 
fied ;" or, the substance of apostlic preaching 
generally, his answer is still the same, — " we 
preach Christ crucified ;" and the reason as- 
signed is, that " he is made of God unto us, 
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, 
and redemption. " The prevailing impression 
of the Christian Church is, that the New Tes- 
tament is, in brief, " a faithful saying, and 
worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ 
came into the world to save sinners :" and this, 
too, is its own compendium of itself. 

But if ever the apostle referred to the funda- 
mental truth of the Gospel, it was surely when 
he uttered the fearful anathema, " If we, or an 
angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel 
unto you than that which we have preached, 
let him be accursed. " Now here the point to 
be remarked is, that the Galatians had not re- 
nounced the Christian profession ; — they still 
retained the doctrines they had been taught ; — 
but some part of those doctrines they were in 
danger of surrendering to false teachers; — and 
that part is considered by the apostle as so fun- 
damental, that he puts it for the whole Gospel. 
What then is that vital and essential truth, the 
belief of which amounts to a belief of the Gos- 
pel, and the rejection of which, either by a 
Christian or a church, is a rejection of Chris- 
tianity ? Let us seek an answer by inquiring, 



78 



THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 



what was that counter-doctrine for which the 
Galatians were in danger of renouncing this 
fundamental truth ? The entire drift of the 
apostolic argument shows that it was justifica- 
tion by the ivorks of the law. In opposition to 
this fundamental error it is that the apostle 
affirms the fundamental truth, " Christ hath re- 
deemed us from the curse of the law, being 
made a curse for us :' J fearfully denouncing the 
teacher of the antagonist error, to whatever or- 
der of beings he might belong, and from what- 
ever region of space he may come, as a sub- 
verter of the entire Gospel ; and declaring 
concerning every man who seeks justification 
through any other medium, " that Christ can 
profit him nothing." Here again, then, we meet 
the one grand doctrine in question ; so that 
from whatever point of the circle we may com- 
mence our search, we find this to be the cen- 
tral truth ; and however we may vary the in- 
quiry, " What is truth ; fundamental truth J" 
the reponse of the living oracle is invariably the 
same, Justification by faith in the atoning sa- 
crifice of the Son of God. 

This parent truth necessarily involves in it, 
(according to our apprehension,) the divinity of 
Christ, the necessity of renewal and sanctifica- 
tion by the Holy Spirit, and whatever is com- 
monly called evangelical in doctrine ; while it 
sprinkles the path of duty with atoning blood, 
and is the seminal principle of universal holi- 
ness. But whatever the precise amount of 
truth which it may comprehend, it is evidently 
the doctrine by the humble and hearty belief of 
which a man becomes united to Christ, and 



THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 79 

consequently one with his people. Whatever 
variety of sentiment he may hold on subordi- 
nate points, the cordial reception of " redemp- 
tion through the blood of the cross" unites him 
to " the Head of the body," and through the 
Head to the body itself. Whatever the order 
and discipline of the particular church to which 
he may belong, his union to Christ, being de- 
rived from an independent and superior source, 
is left untouched, as well as his union to the 
body of Christ. And that church itself, teach- 
ing this faith, and composed of such members, 
is a true church, and an integral part of the 
great Christian community. 

Thus the basis of the unity of the Church is 
laid in the unity of the faith. By giving us 
" one Lord" to provide for us a " common sal- 
vation," the " one God and Father of all" has 
wisely ordered that all the saved shall be gen- 
eralised and united in " one faith" concerning 
him, by the " one baptism" of the " one Spirit" 
who actuates and lives in them as " one body." 

2. But this is a faith which does not, and 
which cannot exist alone — it works by love. 
By giving us a new centre, it brings us into a 
new circle : by allying us to Christ, it detaches 
us from the world, and introduces us into the 
society of those who have experienced a similar 
transition. In each of these we recognise a 
brother; and feel, by sympathy, that our prin- 
ciples and interests are common to all. And 
the more clear, comprehensive, and vigorous 
our faith in Christ, the stronger will be our 
affinity and love to the brethren. The apostle 
therefore prayed for the Colossians, " that their 
8 



80 THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 

hearts might be comforted, being compacted 
together (orv/nSi'S^crOevTeg) in love, and unto* 
all riches of the full assurance of understand- 
ing, to the acknowledgment of God, and of the 
Father, and of Christ." He knew that the bare 
understanding of the truth — the first rudiment 
of piety — would be a basis of union among 
them ; but he knew also that the assurance of 
understanding would draw their union closer 
still ; and the full assurance still nearer ; and 
the riches, all the riches of that full assurance 
would make the cohesion complete ; and hence 
he desired to see their faith in Christ attain 
perfection, in order that their mutual affection 
might blend them into one. The tendency of 
gravitation is to bring all portions of matter to- 
gether, and the nearer they approach a com- 
mon centre the greater that tendency becomes ; 
in the Christian Church, the cross is that cen- 
tre, so that its members could not cleave to it y 
without finding that their hearts had united and 
become one. 

But there is a reason for this love which lies 
deeper still — the all-pervading presence and in- 
fluence of that " one Spirit" to whose regene- 
rating operation it is owing that there is any 
Church in existence, or any faith and love to* 
cement its members together.! The several 

* k*i «c, even by. See Macknight in loco. See also 
Acts vii. 35, compared with Gal. iii. 19. 

i Membra vero Christi, &c. " The members of 
Christ are joined together by a uniting charity, and by 
the same cleave close to their head which is Christ." — 
Aug. de Unit. cap. 2. u For the communion of the 
Spirit is wont to knit and unite men's minds." — Bas. 
Ep. 132. 



THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 81 

parts of the human body are united and em- 
ployed by the pervading soul as one organic 
whole ; and in a similar way, the Holy Spirit — 
the soul of the Church — by pervading and ac- 
tuating each of its members, becomes the unit- 
ing and sympathetic principle of the whole : 
" for by one Spirit are we all baptised into one 
body." Of the entire Church from the first 
member to the last, " there is one body, and 
one Spirit." The Spirit that lived in David, 
lived in Paul, is now living in the Christian 
reader of these pages, to whatever denomina- 
tion of the faithful he may belong, and will 
equally live and act in the last believer that 
shall cross the threshold of the Church ; thus 
descending and Mowing, age after age, in un- 
broken continuity throughout the whole Chris- 
tian body. And hence it is given in charge to 
the faithful of each successive generation, that 
they " keep the unity of the Spirit" unsevered 
and entire — that there be no breach in its con- 
tinuous diffusion throughout the entire Church. 
Most beautifully is this spirit-derived union 
of love adverted to by St. Paul in his first epis- 
tle to the Thessalonians : " As touching bro- 
therly love, ye need not that I write unto you ; 
for ye yourselves are taught of GgcI to love one 
anotherJ" Their brotherly love was a divine 
instinct — an essential property of their new na- 
ture — implanted, independent of any formal in- 
struction on the subject, by the agency of the 
Holy Spirit — and, as such, common to all who 
enjoy his influence. " For the fruit of the 
Spirit is love, joy,* peace ;" in which enumera- 
tion the apostle assigns the first place to love, 



82 THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 

to denote not merely its primary importance, 
but also the certainty of its production. For 
as love was the first fruit blighted by sin in 
Eden, it is the first which is reproduced by the 
Spirit in that garden of the Lord which is now 
committed to his divine cultivation. 

In harmony with these representations of 
Scripture, the love of the brethren is declared 
to be the peculiar sign given by God to their 
own individual consciousness by the possession 
of which they might know that they have passed 
from death unto life. And " by this" said 
Christ, "shall all men know that ye are my dis- 
ciples if ye have love one to another" — intimat- 
ing that while other signs might identify them 
as belonging to a party, this alone would mark 
them out as belonging to him, and would soon 
come to be recognised as a leading feature in 
the great Christian family. The " new com- 
mand" of our Lord, therefore, that we " love 
one another," is not to be regarded as a mere 
act of authority. Love cannot be arbitrarily 
commanded. It is the spontaneous compla- 
cency of the soul in those in whom it perceives 
a congeniality of spiritual taste, a community 
of holy interests, a reflection of the paternal 
image. Now as these incitements to holy love 
would always exist among his followers, our 
Lord knew that in enjoining the duty of mutual 
affection, he was only speaking to natures di- 
vinely preconfigured to it, interpreting and en- 
couraging feelings of which they were already 
conscious, and giving to that which they felt as 
a sanctified impulse, the sanation and stimulus 
of a Divine obligation. He was directing them, 



THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 83 

not merely to allow the exercise of mutual love, 
hut encouraging them to cherish and cultivate 
it ; to give a loose to the ardor of their brother- 
}y affection by taking his love to them as the 
pattern of their love to each other ; and thus 
not merely gratifying their own new nature, 
but delighting him their Lord and Saviour. 
Besides which, the injunction was obviously in- 
tended to convey the idea that obedience to 
this new command would involve obedience to 
every other requirement ; for " love is the ful- 
filling of the law." This is a sentiment em- 
phatically repeated in no less than six of the 
epistles ;* reminding us that as love alone — the 
love of God — has been sufficient to save a world, 
so love — the love of the brethren — would, if al- 
lowed to operate unchecked, be equal to all the 
duties they owe to each other, and would fill 
and expand the Church with that element of 
peace and joy in which the Spirit delights to 
dwell 

III. Faith and love, then, in the sense ex- 
plained, as necessarily including universal holi- 
ness, constitute the twofold bond of the unity 
of the Christian Church. And that they form 
the only bond essential to that unity is evident 
from the following considerations : — 

1. They are evidently the only bond which 
existed, or which could have existed, among the 
Christians of the first churches. In the order 
of nature the object precedes the act — the truth 
to be believed precedes the act of believing it. 

* ICor.xiii.; Rom. xiii. 8—10 ; Gal. v. 14 ; 1 Tim. 
i. 5 ; James ii. 8 — 11; John iv. 7 — 14. 

8* 



84 THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 

But it was by simply believing the Gospel — the 
doctrine of redemption through the atoning sa- 
crifice of Christ — that the first Christians be- 
came eligible to form a church : — the object of 
their faith preceded their existence as a church, 
and was the condition and reason of their organi- 
sation ; while the mode of conducting their 
worship, the form of church government, and 
every opinion independent of and subordinate 
to that great doctrine were, in the order of na- 
ture, subjects for subsequent consideration. As 
far indeed as these were prescribed by apostolic 
authority, they were to be received as impera- 
tive, because divinely inspired. But their very 
prescription supposed a church already in exist- 
ence ; or, at least, the existence of Christian 
men eligible to become a church. Now that 
which was sufficient to render them eligible for 
membership, and to bind them together as a 
church, must be still adequate for the same pur- 
poses. 

2. Accordingly, when the apostles were ex- 
pressly describing the principles which unite us 
to Christ and to each other — faith and love 
form the inspired summary of the whole. " For 
in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth 
any thing, nor uncircumcision ; but faith which 
worketh by love."* " Now the end of the com- 
mandment is charity out of a pure heart, and 
of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned, "t 
" And this is his commandment, That we should 
believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, 
and love one another, as he gave us command- 
ment.":): 

* Gal. v. 6. t 1 Tim. i. 5. J 1 John iii. 23. 



THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 85 

3. And as faith and love are the only requi- 
sites for communion with a Christian church, 
so are they the only elements of its prosperity. 
11 After I heard," says St. Paul, " of your faith 
in Christ, and love to all the saints, I cease not 
to give thanks for you."* " We are bound to 
thank God always for you, brethren, as it is 
meet, because that your faith groweth exceed- 
ingly, and the charity of every one of you all 
towards each other aboundeth."f The growth 
of their faith and love was not merely trie sign 
of prosperity, it was prosperity itself. 

4. But if ever the apostles had deemed faith 
and love insufficient, and had proceeded to add 
some other bond, it would surely have been 
when they feared these ties were in danger of 
being burst asunder by the member of the par- 
ticular church to which, at any time, they were 
writing. And yet, when addressing the Philip- 
pians on the perpetuation of their union and 
prosperity, this is the only direction of the apos- 
tle, " Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind 
striving together for the faith of the Gospel," — 
adhere to the faith in unanimity and love. And 
when agonising (yXixov aywva) in soul for the 
peace and welfare of the churches at Colosse 
and Laodicea, his only solicitude was, that their 
hearts might be " knit together in love, and 
unto all riches of the full assurance of under- 
standing, to the acknowledgment of God, and 
of the Father, and of Christ." Faith and lovef 

* Eph. i. 15, 16. t 2 Thess. i. 3. 
J Did not the apostles insist quite as strongly upon 
obedience? Ed. 



86 THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 

form the apostolic terms of communion with the 
Christian Church, the means and substance of 
its prosperity, and the grand catholicon for all 
its maladies. 

5. To constitute faith and love the princi- 
ples of unity in the Christian Church is only in 
consonance with the Divine requirements of the 
moral law; — for what is it but to exhibit reli- 
gion anew under its twofold aspect of love to 
God and love to man ? What is it but to bring 
the two tables of the law from the Jewish tem- 
ple into the Christian Church, that they may 
lean against the cross, and be sprinkled with its 
blood? For it is only by believing in Christ 
that the soul is restored to the capacity of lov- 
ing sincerely either God or man. 

6. In times of persecution, faith and love 
were the only bonds of unity which Christians 
in many instances could retain. As the " wo- 
man fled into the wilderness," whatever of 
earthly ornament or human appendage had 
formed a part of her attire, was cast away, and 
she appeared only in her celestial dress, " cloth- 
ed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, 
and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." 
In the fastnesses of Caledonia, Wales, and Pied- 
mont, Christianity found a retreat from her pur- 
suers ; and as she sat, with the Bible on her 
knees, and her children at her feet, showed, 
for ages, how well the Church can subsist in 
the only unity which the Gospel recognises, by 
simply " speaking, ahjdsvovreg, maintaining, or 
professing the truth [of the Gospel] in love." 

7. And as any additions to faith and love 
have at times been found impracticable, so are 



THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 87 

they always unnecessary. What can bring the 
sinner to the foot of the cross till faith effects 
it ? and when faith has led him there, and in- 
duced him to clasp it, what additional power 
can be necessary to detain him ? And when 
love, as the natural result of faith, and in obe- 
dience to Christ, has united him to the brother- 
hood, how supererogatory to add any thing to a 
principle which of itself " beareth all things, 
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth 
all things. " To think of bringing any thing 
merely human to the aid of a principle so self- 
sufficient, ^nd of making such supplement in- 
dispensable, seems to be as inconsistent with 
reason and Scripture, as it would be to think of 
supplying its entire absence by the same impo- 
tent means. 

IV. Having thus illustrated the scriptural 
nature of the unity of the Church, we find our- 
selves in possession of the following important 
results. The fact that faith is an essential ele- 
ment of Christian union implies that the Church 
is a holy community ; the fact that love is equal- 
ly essential necessarily makes it a visible union ; 
while from the two causes combined it follows 
that this holy and visible union is universal. 

1. The Church is " a congregation of faith- 
ful men" — a community of regenerated charac- 
ters.* The faith which draws them to Christ, 

* Ecclesiam veram intelligere non audeo, &c. u I 
dare not understand the true Church to consist but of 
holy and righteous men." Aug. de Bapt. 5. 27. " There 
are many who communicate in sacraments with the 
Church, and yet they are not in the Church." Idem. 
De Unit. Eccl. c. 20. 



88 THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 

detaches them from sin, and allies them to holi- 
ness. This is their only glory in the eyes of 
Christ, and their chief distinction from the 
world around. The ungodly world is one vast 
confederation of evil, and the design of Christ 
in instituting a Church is, not merely to provide 
an asylum for all the spiritual excellence of 
earth, but chiefly to create in the midst of this 
awful confederation, a counteracting agency of 
good. The indiscriminate admission into his 
Church, therefore, of the godly and the ungod- 
ly would be an obvious frustration of his design. 
And hence the numerous and various precau- 
tions which he has taken to maintain for his 
Church a spiritual character ; proclaiming when 
he was about to form it, " Repent ye, for the 
kingdom of heaven is at hand ;" inscribing this 
memorable sentence over the entrance of his 
Church, " Except a man be born again, he can- 
not enter :" prescribing for it a code of disci- 
pline,* which, if faithfully administered, would 
have the effect of rebuking every sin the mo- 
ment it appeared, and of casting from its bosom 
every hypocrite and ungodly intruder, the mo- 
ment his character became known :f calling its 
members by names and titles which none but 
converted men can own ;| assigning them du- 
ties which none but spiritual men can perform :§ 
and conferring on them privileges which such 
men only can relish or desire. 

* Matt, xviii. 15—20. 

I 1 Cor. v. 11—13.; Rev. ii. iii. 

t Rom. i. 7; 1 Cor. i. 2 ; Eph. i. 1 ; Col. i. 2 ; iii. 13. 

§ Matt. v. 16; Luke vi. 27, 28; 1 Thess. v. 16, 

17,38. 



THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 89 

Accordingly, the members of the first church 
were those " that believed ;" and those who 
were subsequently added to them were ivg 
auCouei'ti^ " those that were saved." While the 
exhortations of the apostles to the churches they 
addressed, and especially the tenor ofour Lord's 
messages to the seven Asiatic churches, evince 
the Divine solicitude that such only should be 
admitted and retained within its pale, in order 
that the spiritual and distinctive character of 
his Church might be maintained. 

2. By rendering the Church a union of affec- 
tion, the institution is made visible. Love, 
even of an ordinary kind, soon betrays its exist- 
ence. The love of the brethren originates in a 
cause, and leads to results, peculiar to itself. 
The faith which detaches the heart from the 
world, does not destroy the social principle, but 
only leads it to seek gratification in another 
direction. The institution of the Christian 
Church is intended to meet this want — to fur- 
nish the social principle with a sphere in which 
it might enjoy ample scope and activity for the 
production and reciprocation of good. Here, 
we are to look on the faults of others only to 
pity and pray for them ;* and to contemplate 
their excellences only to admire and imitate : 
to lessen their cares by sympathy, and to multi- 
ply their pleasures by participation ; to find and 
fabricate our happiness in promoting the happi- 

* Hence Origen, in his panegyric on the church at 
Athens, declares, " every division, every schism was 
detestable to you ; you wept over the failings of your 
neighbors ; you thought their defects your own, and 
were impatient after every good work." 



90 THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 

ness of others, and " so fulfil the law of Christ." 
Here, whatever relates to the advancement of 
the kingdom of Christ is to unite all hearts, and 
to be embarked in as a common interest, in the 
success of which every one is equally concern- 
ed. And by this congeniality of character, and 
identity of interests, the Church is to exhibit 
the spectacle of a vast community actuated 
" with one heart and one soul." " By this" 
said Christ, " shall all men know that ye are 
my disciples ;" and by this the world did dis- 
tinguish them. So intense, self-denying, and 
active was their love, that it stood forth in con- 
trast with the selfishness of the world, like the 
verdure of paradise set in the desert. Tertul- 
lian, in his Apology, gives us the very words in 
which numbers admired their conduct, " See/* 
said they, " how they love one another, and are 
ready to lay down their lives for each other."* 

3. And from the combined influence of this 
faith and love, it follows that this holy and visi- 
ble union was universal. As it did not origi- 
nate in a cause peculiar to any particular por- 
tion of the Christian Church, but in one common 
to the whole, it necessarily embraced the entire 
body. " We know," says the apostle John, 
" that we have passed from death unto life, be- 
cause we love the brethren," — we love them as 
brethren, on account of their spiritual relation- 
ship to Christ, their attachment to him, and the 
traces they exhibit of his Divine image ; and, 
therefore, wherever we behold a genuine Chris- 

# Vide, inquiunt, ut se diligunt; et pro alterutro 
mori parati sunt. 



THE NATURE OF CHRISTlAxN UNITY". 91 

tian, we recognise a brother — a member of the 
family of Christ. And hence they exhibited a 
union not merely of individual Christians, but 
of churches. Having professed by baptism 
their faith in Christ, they were cordially re- 
ceived to the communion of the Lord's-supper ; 
and having joined in that feast of Christian fel- 
lowship with one church, they were deemed 
eligible to communion with every other church.* 
Tokens of Christian salutation, and offices of 
brotherly love, were familiarly interchanged. f 
They were ready to unite in the Church on 
earth with all with whom they hoped to meet 
and mingle in the worship of the Church in 
heaven. Minor differences they do not appear 
to have thought of; but in the exercise of that 
comprehensive regard which taught them to 
" love the brotherhood," they included in their 
large and complacent embrace " all who in 
every place called upon the name of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours." If ever 
the prayer of Christ, " that they all might be 
one," was answered, it was then ; when, what- 



* And hence Chrysostom complains of Epiphanius, 
that when he came to Constantinople, " he came not 
into the congregation according to custom and the an- 
cient manner ; he joined not with us, nor communi- 
cated with us in the word, and prayer, and the holy 
communion." — Chrys. ad Innoc. P. Ep. 122. 

t " Both common charity and reason require, most 
dear brethren, that we conceal nothing from your 
knowledge of those things which are done among us, 
that so there may be common advice," &c. — Cyp y Ep. 
29. (Ad Cler. Rom.) 

9 



92 THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. 

ever the internal state of particular churches, 
they exhibited to the world the sublime and 
glorious spectacle of a universal agapa, to which 
every Christian brother, on presenting the tes- 
sera of discipleship, received the cordial wel- 
come of a friend of Christ. 






CHAPTER III. 



SCHISM, THE BREACH OF THE UNION OF THE 
CHURCH. 

As the union of the Christian Church is two- 
fold, consisting of faith in Christ and love to the 
brethren, it is evident that it must be capable 
of a twofold rupture. The breach of the for- 
mer is heresy or apostacy, the violation of the 
latter is schism. But as apostacy, or a depart- 
ure from God, necessarily includes schism, or a 
departure from the brethren ; so schism, in its 
scriptural import, argues an impaired state of 
faith in Christ, and tends to impair it still far- 
ther. Schism, therefore, is to be regarded as 
the breach of the unity of the Church. 

But as this is an inquiry relating entirely to a 
scriptural question, our first concern should un- 
doubtedly be to ascertain " the mind of the 
Spirit." Let us then appeal " to the law and 
to the testimony." 

The term " schism," though it occurs but 
once* in its untranslated form in our English 
version of the New Testament, occurs in the 
Greek, either as a noun or a verb, in eighteen 

* 1 Cor. xii. 25. 



94 SCHISM, THE BREACH OF 

instances. In ten of these it is applied literally 
to denote the violent divulsion of some material 
substance, such as the rending of the rocks, or 
of the vail at the crucifixion of Christ. In five 
instances the word is applied figuratively , to 
denote states of mind in which difference of 
opinion was attended with eruptions of temper, 
and consequent altercation. In only three in- 
stances is the term applied to the Church ; and 
all of these are in the first Epistle to the Corin- 
thians. Here, then, if any where, we may ex- 
pect to learn the nature of schism. 

The first is as follows : — " Now I beseech 
you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and 
that there be no divisions (cr/io^aTa) among 
you ; but that ye be perfectly joined together 
in the same mind and in the same judgment. 
For it hath been declared to me of you, my 

brethren that there are contentions 

among you. Now this I say, that every one of 
you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I 
of Cephas, and I of Christ."* That the una- 
nimity which the apostle enjoins, is not a mere 
identity of opinion on matters of faith is evi- 
dent, for to such no allusion is made, nor does 
it appear that on such any difference of opinion 
existed.! The Corinthians would have instant- 

* 1 Cor. i. 10—13. 

t " Theophylact. — ' Since many may be united in 
matters of intellect, and yet differ in sentiment ; for 
when we believe the same things, but yet are not knit 
together in charity, we hold the same notions, but dif- 
fer in sentiment : — this being the case, the apostle, by 
adding to the words <ra> clutco vo/, the words, th etwnt 



THE UNION OF THE CHURCH. 95 

ly inferred, even without any explanation, that 
the subject on which the apostle would have 
them to be one, was that on which, at the time, 
they were many. But by adverting expressly 
to the nature of their " contentions," he places 
the question beyond a doubt. Four parties, at 
least, existed in this Christian church. And 
having divided, contentions arose respecting 
the superiority of the leaders whose names they 
had adopted, and the way in which they en- 
deavored to strengthen their several factions. 
Adverting to the subject of their disputes again 
in the third chapter, the apostle speaks of their 
{dr/ooxaoicu) factions. What then was the na- 
ture of the " schisms" which the apostle here 
sought to extinguish ? A factious preference 
of the ministers by whom they had believed, to 
the loss of that brotherly love which they owed 
to each other. An exclusive regard for the 
members of a party, when they ought to have 
been affectionately embracing the whole Church. 
And hence his aim is to remove their party- 
regards from himself, and Apollos, and Cephas, 
and to centre them on Christ alone, as the only 
way of restoring their love to each other. He 
reminds them in the verse immediately preced- 
ing, that they have been " called into the fel- 
lowship of Jesus Christ our Lord ;" he tenderly 
entreats them all as " brethren, by the name of 
our Lord Jesus Christ ;" and pointing them to 
the cross, touchingly reminds them that Christ 
alone has poured out for them his blood. Thus 

yvuifAV), expresses a wish that they might differ neither 
on points of faith, nor on matters of sentiment. — See 
also Chrysostom." — Professor Billroth in loco. 

9* 



96 SCHISM, THE BREACH OF 

would he hush their altercations, and heal their 
divisions, by calling them around the cross, 
there to feel that they are all one in Christ. 

The second passage is as follows : — " Now, 
in this that 1 declare unto you, I praise you not, 
that ye come together not for the better, but for 
the worse. For, first of all, when ye come to- 
gether in the church, I hear that there be divi- 
sions ((T/ia/uara) among you ; and I partly be- 
lieve it ... . When ye come together, therefore, 
into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's- 
supper. For in eating every one taketh before 
other his own supper : and one is hungry, and 
another is drunken. What ! have ye not houses 
to eat and to drink in ? or despise ye the Church 
of God, and shame them that have not ? What 
shall I say to you ? shall I praise you in this ? 
I praise you not."* Three things are here dis- 

* 1 Cor. xi. 17 — 22 " The expression y.vpictKcv <Pzi7rvov 
comprehends here, as Usteri has correctly remarked, 
the entire observance, as well of the Lord's-supper, 
properly so called, as of the Agapse, which were com- 
monly associated with it." — Billroth. " to i£iqv ftivrvov 
denotes the supper which each one had brought as his 
own contribution to the common meal, Tleox., ante- 
capit, has reference to the eagerness with which each 
one (of the richer sort, we may presume) snatched up 
the food he had brought, and filled himself therewith, 
before the poorer class could well touch it ; which 
would cause them (who had brought little or nothing 
with them) to fare very scantily. And as this (which 
is to be understood of the agapa preceding the Lord's- 
supper) was not an ordinary meal, it was a violation of 
propriety as well as of Christian charity so to act : for 
though each brought his own supper, yet when it had 
been thrown into the common stock, it ceased to be his 
own. Thus the plenty of some shamed the wants of 
others ; which occasioned heart-burnings, and so de- 
feated the very end of the solemnity." — Bloomfield. 



THE UNION OF THE CHURCH. 97 

tinctly specified deserving our particular atten- 
tion : — first, the general charge alleged against 
the church at Corinth — " I hear there be 
schisms among you ; and I partly believe it." 
Second, the serious mistake in which these 
schisms had originated, or by which they had 
been fostered — " When ye come together into 
one place, this is not to eat the Lord's-supper" 
— to partake of that is more than simply eating, 
as you seem to suppose, in one place, in mere 
local union. Third, the nature of the schisms 
which ensued — " for in eating every one taketh 
before other his own supper : and one is hun- 
gry, and another is drunken." As they assem- 
bled in one place, and as one church, love 
would have brought them together united in 
spirit and purpose : but they came regardless 
of each other's feelings and circumstances — and 
this icas schism. Affection would have taught 
them to wait the arrival of their fellow-members; 
but they selfishly began without delay — and this 
was schism. Sympathy would have taught them 
to unite their means in a common Agapa, or 
feast of love ; but those who had abundance not 
only indulged to excess, they shamefully forgot 
their poorer brethren who had nothing, and 
thus made them feel the smart of their poverty 
— and this was schism. The state of things 
which is here described, then, is characterised 
by the absence of Christian sympathy and love, 
and this the apostle condemns as a state of 
schism. 

In the third and last passage in which the 
word schism occurs, the object of the apostle 
appears to be to sum up and enforce all that he 



98 SCHISM, THE BREACH OF 

had previously written on its nature and evils. 
n God hath tempered the body together, having 
given more abundant honor to that part which 
lacked ; that there should be no schism in the 
body ; but that the members should have the 
same care one for another. And whether one 
member suffer, all the members suffer ?rith it; 
or one member be honored, all the members re" 
joice with it. 93 * In the beautiful apologue of 
which this passage is the conclusion, the cor- 
poreal system is contemplated as a whole com- 
posed of many parts ; each of these parts is 
supposed to be endowed with individual life 
and separate intelligence ; but it is implied that 
all of them are intended to be united, by a 
sense of dependence and a sentiment of affec- 
tion, common to the whole; and it is the ab- 
sence of this sympathetic bond which is rep- 
resented as the " schism in the body." The 
application is obvious and inevitable. The 
Christian Church — composed of many members 
— is the body of Christ ; each of these mem- 
bers, though possessing a distinct and separate 
consciousness, is vitally related to the whole ; 
and, in order to the completeness and well- 
being of the whole, it is intended that " the 
members should have the same care one for 
another. And whether one member suffer all 
the members suffer with it, or one member be 
honored, all the members rejoice with it." 
Now, if such be the united action and the re- 
ciprocal sympathy of the members of the Chris- 
tian Church, in the absence of schism — the 

* 1 Cor xii. 24— 26. 



THE UNION OF THE CHURCH. 99 

want, or the violation, of that mutual care and 
sympathy is the evil thing which the apostle 
denominates schism. 

In further corroboration of this position, we 
might advert, were it necessary, to the inimi- 
table eulogy on Christian charity which imme- 
diately follows in the thirteenth chapter. Hav- 
ing described the malady with which the 
Corinthian church was afflicted, he here pro- 
ceeds to prescribe for it. For a church in the 
last stages of schism, love is the only and in- 
fallible remedy. And as the nature of a dis- 
ease may be inferred from the character of the 
remedy, schism must be regarded as directly 
opposed to the love of the brethren. 

Having now considered the only places in 
Scripture in which the term schism is employed 
in reference to the Church, we find ourselves 
brought to the following general conclusion — a 
conclusion replete with interest and important 
instruction for every Christian and Christian 
church in Christendom — that an exclusive, fac- 
tious, and uncharitable spirit, wherever, and in 
combination with whatever, it may exist, is 
essential schism. The writer is aware, that as 
the term is ecclesiastically employed in Scrip- 
ture in reference to the state of things, in a 
particular church alone, it has been contended 
that it cannot be strictly applied to the act of 
separation from a church, or to the state 
of things existing between churches already 
distinct. 

But, first, as the term is employed in Scrip- 
ture, in its literal signification, to denote not 
merely a division in a thing, but also a total 



100 SCHISM, TIIE BREACH OF 

separation of its parts :* secondly, as separation 
from a church, when occasioned by schism in 
it, is but the same principle extended in its ap- 
plication, and producing its appropriate effects: 
and, thirdly, as even the writers in question 
consent on this latter account to carry the term 
from strifes and factions in a church to their 
natural results in actual and visible separation, 
we feel ourselves warranted in laying it down 
as an incontrovertible position, that an exclu- 
sive, factious, and uncharitable spirit, wherever 
it exists, is essential schism. Indeed if schism 
consist, as we have seen, in the violation of 
that brotherly love which should unite all Chris- 
tians in one, this is the only conclusion at 
which we can arrive. 

Now from this general proposition it follows, 
first, that the schismatic principle may exist in 
only one member of a Christian church. It is, 
indeed, commonly found to distinguish a fac- 
tion ; but this is simply because it does not 
begin to attract notice until it has enlisted a 
party, and has made itself heard in its party 
clamors, and felt in its party measures. But 
how many of the divisions which have rent the 
Christian Church can be traced up to the un- 
hallowed temper or overbearing conduct of a 
single member ! How probable is it that the 

* Thrice in relation to the veil of the temple, Matt, 
xxvii. 51, " the veil of the temple was rent in twain;" 
eT^ivQii s/c £uo ct7ro cLvuQev za><; KdTce. Mark xv. 38. idem. 
Luke xxiii. 45., /us<rov, "in the midst" And once in 
relation to the garment of Jesus, John xix. 24, " they 
said, Let us not rend, it." (jun o-^icraijuzv,) where the. 
rending avoided was a division into four distinct 
parts. 



THE UNION OF THE CHURCH. 101 

schisms in the church at Corinth thus origin- 
ated ; for even when the apostle addressed it, 
his admonition to " mark them that cause 
offences/' indicated that the chief agents of the 
evil were a few well-known individuals. And 
how directly should this reflection lead the 
active and influential Christian to examine 
whether or not his activity tends to unite or to 
separate. He may not be one of a party, he 
may be a party himself. 

Second : a church may be professedly and 
externally united, and yet it may be filled with 
schism. The Christians at Corinth assembled 
together in one place — believed substantially 
the same doctrines — and, to all outward ap- 
pearance, maintained the unity of a church, 
and yet, at that very time, they were com- 
pletely pervaded with a spirit of schism. 
" Every one of you saith," writes the apostle, 
" I am of Paul," &c. ; the disease was epi- 
demic ; and not one had entirely escaped the 
infection. 

Third : a church may be not only externally 
one, but really one in doctrine and discipline, 
and yet be schismatic. The schism in the 
church at Corinth did not consist in the sepa- 
ration and departure of any of its members to 
form a distinct society ; for the very time when 
their schisms were most apparent was when 
they had " come together into one place to eat 
the Lord's-supper." Nor did their schisms 
consist in offering resistance to any of the offi- 
cers or authorities divinely appointed in the 
church ; on the contrary, they were disposed 
rather to multiply authorities in the persons of 



102 SCHISM, THE BREACH OF 

Paul, Apollos, and Cephas ; and to be proud of 
their various endowments, and of the distinct 
offices to which they pointed. Nor did their 
schisms consist in any departures from the 
faith, or in any changes of the constitution of 
the Christian Church ; for however erroneous 
the view they entertained of what was neces- 
sary to the right celebration of the Lord's-sup- 
per, it was not that erroneous view itself which 
the apostle denominated schism, but its practi- 
cal results. The sin consisted in those un- 
christian tempers, acrimonious disputes, and 
factious combinations, which disturbed the 
peace, and destroyed the sympathetic unity of 
the Church. 

Fourth : schism may exist in the same 
church, or among the same Christians, in very 
different degrees. This is especially the case 
when a rupture in a church is made visible and 
permanent by actual departure and separate 
communion from it. " If the Corinthians are 
charged with schism, on account of that spirit 
of contention, and that alienation of their affec- 
tions from each other, which merely tended to- 
an open rupture, how much more would they 
have incurred that censure had they actually 

proceeded to that extremity ? Though 

it may be applied to such a state of contention 
as consists with the preservation of external 
union, it is most eminently applicable to a so* 
ciety whose bond of union is dissolved, and 
where one part rejects the other from its fel- 
lowship. If there is any meaning in terms, 
this is schism in its highest sense."* 

* Robert Hall, on Christian, in opposition to Party 
Communion. 



THE UNION OF THE CHURCH. 103 

Fifth : in the event of a separation, the 
question as to whether the guilt of schism 
attaches to the party leaving, or to the party 
left, is of course to be decided only by the 
spirit and conduct of the respective parties. * 
The fact of their separation merely determines 
the relative position in which they are now 
standing to each other ; the guilt of that fact is 
to be looked for in the unscriptural causes 
which have produced the division and placed 
them in that position ; and in whichever party 
we find these causes, there we have detected, 
and are warranted to charge the sin of schism. 

Whence it follows, 1, That where persons 
have been separated and cut off from a church, 
the charge of schism may lie, not against the 
church which has excommunicated them, but 
against themselves. The church may have cut 
them off as the only method of saving itself from 
being overrun and destroyed by the spirit of 
schism ; just as the amputation of a limb may 
be the only method of preventing the entire 
dissolution of the natural body. In casting 
them out of its bosom, the church may be only 
exercising that power of Christian discipline 
with which it is intrusted by its Divine Head 
for the preservation of its purity and peace ; 
and for the actual employment of which, when 
necessary, he holds it responsible. And when 
performing their excision, so far from exhibiting 

* When an overflowing Christian Society colonises, 
or erects a second place, by common consent, for the 
reception and accommodation of its surplus members, 
this is not separation, but diffusion — both are still one 
in love and in Christ. 
10 



104 SCHISM, THE BREACH OP 

a want of charity, it may feel as if it were cut- 
ting off a right hand, or plucking out a right 
eye ; and may do it " even weeping." 

Or, 2, Where separation from a church has 
taken place, the charge of schism may lie, not 
against the persons who secede, but against the 
church whose communion they have left. That 
circumstances may arise, not only justifying 
secession, but making it a sacred duty, is evi- 
dent from such commands of Scripture as the 

following : — " If any one teach otherwise 

from such withdraw thyself."* " Withdraw 
yourselves from every brother that walketh dis- 
orderly, and not after the tradition which he 
received of us."f " Come out of her, my 
people, that ye be not partakers of her sins."! 
Obedience to the will of Christ, then, may 
render separation from a church an imperative 
obligation. For instance, when the church at 
Pergamos had received the apocalyptic warning 
to repent on peril of Divine displeasure, had 
fifty of its members trembled and determined, 
in the strength of God, to obey — -and had they 
respectfully applied to the great body of that 
church, representing their strong desire to re- 
main in communion with it, and their conse- 
quent anxiety to see it cleansed from " the doc- 
trine of Balaam," and from " the doctrine of 
the Nicolaitanes," in order that they might be 
able conscientiously to continue in its bosom — 
and had the great majority of that church, not 

* 1 Tim. vi. 3—5, or " If any man teach hetero- 
doxies, &c. 

t 2 Thess. iii. 6. \ Rev. xviii. 4. 



THE UNION OF THE CHURCH. 105 

only refused to listen both to the voice of the 
Divine warning and of the Christian remon- 
strance and entreaty, but had it even proceed- 
ed to draw up a creed or prescript in which the 
very doctrines objected to (those of Balaam 
and Nicolaitanes) were embodied, stamped with 
assumed infallibility, and made necessary arti- 
cles of faith — and had the fifty then mournfully 
and peaceably withdrawn from a church which 
had first misled and afterwards oppressed them 
— which of the two parties would have been 
chargeable with the guilt of scjiism ? To wait 
for a reply is unnecessary. 

Accordingly, in meeting the charge of schism, 
which the church of Rome brings against that 
of England, the ablest advocates of the latter 
occupy precisely this ground. " For when," 
says the ever-memorable Hales, " either false 
or uncertain conclusions are obtruded for truth, 
and acts, either unlawful or ministering just 
scruple, are required of us to be performed, in 
these cases, consent were conspiracy, and open 
contestation is not faction or schism, but due 

Christian animosity." " For where cause 

of schism is necessary, there, not he that sepa- 
rates, but he that is the cause of separation,, is 
the schismatic."* The learned Barrow, in his 
" Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy," has a 
chaptert enumerating the reasons which justify 
separation from the church of Rome. He 
shows, that to withdraw from communion with 
churches " in case of their maintaining errors, 
or of their disorderly behavior, is a practice ap- 

* Tract concerning Schism, &c. t Chap. vii. 



106 SCHISM, THE BREACH OF 

proved of by Great and General Synods, as 
also by divers popes ;" and quotes with appro- 
bation the language of St. Jerome, retorting 
on John, Bishop of Jerusalem, his ecclesiastical 
superior, the charge of schism — " Who makes 
a schism in the church ? we, whose whole 
house in Bethlehem communicate with the 
church : or thou, who either believest aright, 
and proudly concealest the truth, or art of a 
wrong belief, and really makest a breach in the 
Church? Art thou alone the Church? and is 
he who offendeth thee excluded from Christ?" 
" Men would do well to consider," says Bishop 
Taylor in his Liberty of Prophesying,* " whether 
or no such proceedings do not derive the guilt 
of schism upon them who least think it ; and 
whether of the two is the schismatic, he that 
makes unnecessary and (supposing the state of 
things) inconvenient impositions, or he that 
disobeys them because he cannot, without doing 
violence to his conscience, believe them : he 
that parts communion because without sin he 
could not entertain it, or they that have made 
it necessary for him to separate by requiring 
such conditions which to man are simply neces- 
sary, and to his particular are either sinful or 
impossible." And, saith Chillingworth, in ad- 
dressing the Romanists, " The Protestants were 

not fugitivi but fugati they were, by 

you necessitated and constrained to separate, 
because you will not suffer them to do well 
with you, unless they would do ill with you." 
They cannot communicate with you, " not so 

* Section xxii. 



THE UNION OF THE CHURCH. 107 

much because you maintain errors and cor- 
ruptions, but because you impose them, and 
have so ordered your communion, that either 
we must communicate with you in these things, 
or nothing." They could not profess what 
they believed to be false, nor comply with what 
they considered superstitious ; this would have 
been a violation of conscience, and treason 
against its Lord ; their withdrawment, there- 
fore, was an act of self-preservation, rendered 
unavoidable by the highest necessity. Conse- 
quently, the blame of separation attached, not 
to them, but to those whose spirit of imposition 
had made so painful a measure necessary. 
This is the great principle on which the con- 
duct of the Reformers in seceding from the 
Romish church admits of the amplest vin- 
dication. 

Or, 3, The separatist may not only be free 
from the charge of schism, but they may have 
separated chiefly to avoid schism. The great 
sect of the Donatists maintained that their own 
church was the only true, uncorrupted, univer- 
sal church — separated themselves from the com- 
munion of all other parts of the Church — re- 
quired of a candidate, as a necessary condition 
of communion, that he should renounce com- 
munion with all other churches — pronounced 
the administration of the ordinance of the 
Lord's-supper, out of their own communion, 
null and void — and re-baptised those who join- 
ed them from other churches, and re-ordained 
their ministers ; — " a condition/' says Chilling- 
worth, " both unnecessary and unlawful to be 
required, and therefore the exacting of it was 
10* 



108 SCHISM, THE BREACH OF 

directly opposite to the Church's Catholicism ; 
in the very same nature with their errors who 
required circumcision .... as necessary to sal- 
vation. For whosoever requires harder or 
heavier conditions of men than God requires 
of them, he it is that is properly an enemy of 
the Church's universality, by hindering either 
men or countries from joining themselves to it. 

And seeing the present church 

of Rome persuades men they were as good 

not to be Christians, as not to be 

Roman Catholics ; believe nothing at all, as 
not to believe all she imposes on them ; be ab- 
solutely out of the Church's communion, as be 
out of her communion, or be in any other : 
whether she be not guilty of the same crime 
with the Donatists, and those zealots of the 
Mosaical law, I leave it to the judgment of 
those who understand reason." Now, it is 
easy to conceive of a member or members sep- 
arating from an exclusive and intolerant com- 
munity, like that of the Donatists, not only 
without justly incurring the charge of schism, 
but expressly to avoid it. " We must be sepa- 
ratists," they might have said, " because we 
cannot be sectarian. Were we schismatical 
we would remain Donatists, but as we are 
catholic we leave them. We love the Church 
of Christ so much, that we cannot continue in 
the church of Donatus. We think so much of 
union, that we are content to sacrifice uniform- 
ity in subordinate matters for the sake of ob- 
taining it." By thus emerging from their sec- 
tarian enclosure, would they not have been 
leaving schism behind them 1 And by thus 






THE UNION OF THE CHURCH. 109 

taking the whole Church to their heart, would 
they not have been setting a noble example of 
universal love, and hastening the day when, in 
answer to the prayer of Christ for his followers, 
they all shall be one ? 

Or, 4, Although the first separatists from a 
church may have been schismatical, those who 
continue the separation may not be so. " They 
who alter, without necessary cause, the present 
government of any state, civil or ecclesiastical, 
do commit a great fault ; yet they may be in- 
nocent who continue this alteration 

when continuance of time hath once settled 
it."* They may perpetuate it conscientiously 
and amicably, so as to endear themselves to the 
community left, and to identify themselves with 
the universal Church. 

Whence it follows, as well as from the gen- 
eral proposition which has led to these inferen- 
ces, that the removal of denominational distinc- 
tions, or the absorption of all sects by one, is 
by no means necessary to extinguish schism. 
" We see that in many things, and they of great 
concernment, men allow to themselves and to 
each other a liberty of disagreeing, and no hurt 
neither. And certainly if diversity of opinions 
were of itself the cause of mischiefs, it would 
be so ever, that is, regularly and universally, 
(but that we see it is not :) for there, are dis- 
putes in Christendom concerning matters of 
greater concernment than most of those opin- 
ions that distinguish sects and make factions ; 
and yet because men are permitted to differ in 

* Chillingworth, chap. v. 4. 



110 SCHISM, THE BREACH OF, &c. 

those great matters, such evils are not conse- 
quent to such differences as are to the unchar- 
itable managing of smaller and more inconsid- 
erable questions It is not the dif- 
fering of opinions that is the cause of the pres- 
ent ruptures, but want of charity ; it is not the 
variety of understandings, but the disunion of 
wills and affections ; it is not the several prin- 
ciples, but the several ends, that cause our mis- 
eries. Our opinions commence and are upheld 
according as our turns are served and our in- 
terests are preserved, and there is no cure for 
us but piety and charity."* Let Judah cease 
to vex Ephraim, and Ephraim cease to envy 
Judah ; they might still exist distinct as tribes, 
for they would be one as brethren. Calvinist 
and Arminian, Presbyterian and Methodist, 
Episcopalian, Baptist, and Independent, are 
specific names, innocent in themselves; only 
let love subordinate them to the generic name 
of Christian, and it will be seen that variety of 
sect is perfectly compatible with the unity of 
the Church.t 

* Taylor's Liberty of Prophesying. 

t This ought not to be taken for granted. Ed. 



CHAPTER IV. 



CAUSES OF SCHISM ; ESPECIALLY THOSE WHICH 
EXISTED FROM APOSTOLIC TIMES TO THE 
PERIOD OF THE REFOR3IATIO>\ 

In attempting to investigate the causes of 
schism, we have to turn to those dark pages of 
ecclesiastical history from which the sceptic 
derives his strongest objection to Christianity, 
and which contain, according to his represen- 
tations, the substance of its annals. Having 
gratuitously asserted, and ostentatiously dis- 
played, the mild and tolerant nature of ancient 
polytheism, he places it in invidious contrast 
with the contentions and persecutions which 
from age to age have stained the Christian 
name; and then proclaims, as by sound of 
trumpet, the superior spirit of the former, and 
denounces the latter as a convicted criminal 
and a curse. Now, as this is the chief, if not 
the only point of superiority to the Gospel 
which the advocates of ancient heathenism 
claim for it — as the impression of its truth, by 
incessant repetition is so general that even a 
Bacon* is found unguardedly stating, that " the 

* Essay on Unity of Religion. 



1 12 CAUSES OF SCHISM. 

quarrels and divisions about religion were evils 
unknown to the heathen" — and as the supposed 
tendency of the Gospel to produce dissensions 
has created, perhaps, stronger prejudices against 
it than all the other cavils of infidelity com- 
bined, it seems not only proper but necessary 
that a chapter which might otherwise tend to 
nourish this prejudice, should be introduced by 
a few warning and corrective remarks. 

The following series of hints might easily be 
illustrated from history, and enlarged to any 
extent. 

1. Even allowing that the theory of the tol- 
erant spirit of ancient heathenism had ever 
been carried into practice, it could not have 
been accounted a virtue. For if polytheism 
allowed the unlimited reception of new divini- 
ties, the admission of an additional god to the 
Olympian conclave, was not the tolerance of a 
new religion, but only a step towards the com- 
pletion of that which already existed. Nor 
was there any more ground for praise in such 
admission, than there is in the church of Rome 
on the canonisation of a saint, or in the act 
of an officer who registers a baptism or a 
birth. 

2. But the plausible theory of the tolerant 
spirit of Paganism is never known to have been 
realised in practice. The Athenians allowed 
no alteration whatever in the religion of their 
ancestors ; and the lives of JEschylus, Anaxa- 
goras, Diagoras, Protagoras, Prodicus, Socrates, 
and Alcibiades, decided that innovation in re- 
ligion was death. The holy or sacred wars 
among the Grecian states ; the sanguinary con- 



CAUSES OF SCHISM. 113 

tests between the respective votaries of the 
different gods of Egypt ;* and the cruel exter- 
mination of the disciples of every other religion 
except that of Zoroaster, in Persia, conspire to 
prove that bigotry is peculiar to no clime, but 
is indigenous to our nature. As to the vaunted 
toleration of the Roman government, we learn 
from Livyt that about 43U years before Christ, 
orders were given to the J^diles to see that 
44 none except Roman gods were worshipped, 
nor in any other than the established forms." 
Mecoenas earnestly exhorted Augustus to " hate 
and punish" all foreign religions, and to compel 
all men to conform to the national worship : 
and Augustus and his successors literally fol- 
lowed his counsel. Tiberius prohibited the 
Egyptian worship ; banished the Jews from 
Rome ; and restrained the worship of the Dru- 
ids in Gaul. Domitian and Vespasian banished 
the philosophers from Rome, some of whom 
were confined in the islands, and others put to 
death. From all of which it would appear that 
intolerance was an original law of Rome — that 
this law was never repealed — and that, from 
time to time, it was let loose on the professors 
of other religions with terrible effect. While 
the history of France during the revolution pro- 
claims, that hot as were the fires of persecu- 
tion which Polytheism often kindled, Atheism 
has a furnace capable of being " heated seven 



* Juvenal, Sat. xv. 

t B. iv. c. 30. See also b. xxxix. c. xvi. Cicero de 
Legibus c. ii. 8. Valerius Maximus b. i. c. 3. Dio 
Cassius,^. 490—2. 



114 



CAUSES OF SCHISM. 



times hotter" — that intolerance is inherent in 
our fallen nature. 

3. Not only did persecution exist prior to 
the introduction of Christianity, it employed its 
utmost power for the extinction of the Gospel. 
" The dragon stood ... to devour the child as 
soon as it was born." The infant Church was 
cradled in suffering. Its champions were cov- 
ered with the scars of conflict. Its members 
dated from their persecutions. All the instru- 
ments of suffering were prepared — all the apa- 
ratus of torture and death were brought out 
and arrayed in its path to arrest its progress. 
Philosophy, descending from that contempt with 
which she had professed to view the early steps 
of the Gospel, joined hands with the pagan 
priesthood, and conferred on the Church the 
unintentional honor of distinguishing it from all 
other " superstitions" by the superior activity of 
its deadly hate. Armed with the sword of the 
civil power, and marching under its banners, 
300 years were spent in laboring to crush the 
Christian Church. Yet, during all these ages 
of persecution, it does not appear that the em- 
perors had occasion to enact any new penal 
laws. So amply was the ancient armoury of 
the Roman code stored with the weapons of 
persecution, that they had only to select and 
wield them at pleasure. Nor should it be for- 
gotten that the bad pre-eminence of raising 
persecution from a law to a science, was re- 
served for a pagan. Julian it was who first 
taught the theory of persecution, and made it a 
branch of practical philosophy. 

4. If Christianity has practised persecution, 



CAUSES OF SCHISM. 115 

she learned the dreadful art from her own per- 
sonal sufferings at the hands of her pagan tor- 
mentors. Long instructed in the maxims of 
intolerance, and accustomed to the spectacle of 
persecution, it was hardly possible that Chris- 
tians should suddenly forget the lessons of their 
pagan oppressors ; or support with perfect equa- 
nimity the transition they experienced from 
being the orTscouring of all things to become 
the lords of the world. But, to the honor of 
the Christian name be it remembered, that uni- 
versal toleration was first taught, even at the 
time of that transition, and taught by one pro- 
fessedly Christian. Constantino, in his Edict 
of Milan — whatever his motives, and however 
inconsistent his subsequent conduct — proclaim- 
ed universal toleration ; protecting all, pagan as 
well as Christian, worship ; " that they who 
erred might enjoy the blessing of peace and 
quietness equally with the faithful."* 

5. But the greatest waste of human life has 
been occasioned, not by religion, true or false, 
but by causes purely political. The wars of 
political society, says Burke, " have slaughtered 
upwards of seventy times the number of souls 
this day on the globe." So that if the quarrels 
and bloodshed occasioned by a nominal Chris- 
tianity is to be employed as an argument against 
the Gospel, the greater evils arising from civil 
society, supply a still stronger argument for re- 
turning to a state of savage nature. t 

* Apud. Euseb. de Vita Constant, 
t See that admirable piece of irony by Burke, " A 
Vindication of Natural Society." 

11 




116 CAUSES OF SCHISM. 

6. Many of the contentions, wars, and mas- 
sacres, professedly religious, have, in their 
origin, been really and simply political. Thus 
the Crusades themselves, or, as they were 
called, to answer a purpose, the Holy Wars, 
unquestionably originated not in any reverence 
for the land they wasted, but in the rapacity 
and ambition of two of the most turbulent popes 
who ever filled the pontifical throne. And in 
the same way, the wars of the League, com- 
monly ascribed to a religious origin, took their 
rise in the personal resentments and ambitious 
projects of the leaders of factions, and the 
princes of the blood. Political causes having 
drawn the sword, a corrupt religion was only 
employed to poison its edge, that the wound 
inflicted might be the more difficult to heal. 

7. All those persecutions and wars which 
have professedly originated in religious mo- 
tives, have been undertaken in direct opposi- 
tion to the spirit of the Gospel, and are de- 
nounced by it. Popery may have been to 
blame — human nature may have been to blame 
(for every man has more or less of the priest in 
his heart, as far as that term is associated with 
the idea of bigotry,) but the Gospel never. So 
far from this, it proclaims " peace on earth and 
good-will towards men." To every individual 
who would draw a material sword in its de- 
fence, its language is, " Put up thy sword 
again into its place." And if the sword be not 
quickly sheathed, it flies from the place as from 
an uncongenial element : so that in every scene 
of intolerance, the presence of the Gospel has 
always been felt like a burden and a restraint ; 



CAUSES OF SCHISM, 117 

nor was it till men liad succeeded in forgetting 
or defying it, that persecution felt itself at full 
liberty to kindle its fires, and indulge its hate. 
And often, alas, at such times, the Bible itself 
has been the first martyr cast into the flames. 

8. In proportion as the Gospel triumphs, 
persecutions cease, and a spirit of forbearance 
and charity succeeds. To take the character 
of Christianity from its corrupted form in the 
middle ages, is as inconsistent as to judge of 
the mountain stream of the Jordan from an 
analysis of the bituminous waters of the Dead 
Sea in which they are lost. To judge of them 
fairly, they should be traced to their fountain, 
and examined in their purity. If ever benevo- 
lence was made visible in human form, it was 
in the person of the Divine Founder of Chris- 
tianity. And the character of Christ, is the 
character of his dispensation. Within the wide 
limits of his dominions he allows no blood to 
be seen, but that of his own atoning sacrifice — 
no sword to be wielded, but that weapon of 
ethereal temper, the sword of the Spirit, whose 
strokes alight only on the conscience, and 
whose edge is anointed with a balm to heal 
every wound it may inflict. If one of his pro- 
fessed subjects offend, the loyal and obedient 
are only empowered to rebuke the offender, 
and to refuse him their society. Accordingly, 
excommunication was the earliest, and for ages 
the only weapon the Church employed. " We 
ought,'' says Chrysostom,* " to reprove and 
condemn impieties and heretical doctrines, but 

* Serm. de Anathemate. 



1 18 CAUSES OF SCHISM. 

to spare the men, and to pray for their salva- 
tion." Though burning with zeal against er- 
roneous opinions, the apostolical fathers, like 
the apostles themselves, neither authorised nor 
hinted any severity on the persons of those op- 
posed to them. And now again, after having 
been overlaid for ages by the accumulated 
errors and oppressions of the world, the spirit 
of the Gospel is rising and shaking the mountain- 
weight from its breast, and resuming its celes- 
tial character. Unlike the Jordan, it is not 
only pure in its fountain, but is gradually puri- 
fying the element of corruption which had neu- 
tralised and absorbed it. Like the waters of 
prophetic vision — its own appropriate type — it 
is " going down into the desert and into the 
sea to heal the waters. And it shall come to 
pass that the waters shall be healed, and every 
thing shall live whither the river comes." 
Wherever it appears, the spectre of intolerance 
shrinks and retires from its presence, while the 
Divine principle of charity lifts up its head and 
feels re-assured. The splendid hope which 
some entertain, that Christianity w r ill ultimately 
unite the whole Church in every article of faith 
and practice, in inward sentiment as well as 
outward form, is only, it is to be feared, a vis- 
ionary prospect ;* though the fact that the 
Gospel should have awakened such an expec- 
tation, proclaims aloud its conciliatory spirit. 
There is, however, a union which its subjects 
pray for, and its promises secure, a union of 

* Why visionary ? May we not as rationally expect 
uniformity of faith and practice as union of heart ? Ed. 



CAUSES OF SCHISM. 119 

affection, which, " linking heart to heart, shall 
leave the judgment free, and out of the vary- 
ing tones of many minds shall form one har- 
monious whole." 

Having thus endeavored to arm the general 
reader against one of the most effective wea- 
pons of infidelity, we are prepared to look, 
without shrinking, at the worst dissensions and 
evils which have siained the history of the 
Christian Church ; for we feel assured, that if 
he has not piety to weep over those evils, his 
common sense will at least distinguish between 
them and that Gospel which denounces them, 
and which is their only cure. 

Bellarmine enumerates twenty-six various 
schisms prior to 1450. And " all schisms, " 
says Hale, '• have crept into the Church by 
one of these three ways, either upon matter of 
fact, or upon matter of opinion, or on point of 
ambition." As our present inquiry relates, how- 
ever, not so much to the kinds of schism, as to 
the sources whence it proceeds, we propose to 
show that it has originated mostly in the opin- 
ionative self-importance of the members of the 
Church — in the imposing spirit of its ministers 
— in the corruption of both combined — and in 
the arrogance, intolerance, and ambition which 
one church has exercised towards another. 

To suppose that schism has, in any instance, 
arisen from a single and unmixed motive, es- 
pecially where the agents have been many, and 
their characters various, would argue a very 
slender acquaintance with the complicated 
springs of human action. To take it for grant- 
ed that the motive assigned by the schismatic 
11* 



120 CAUSES OF SCHISM. 

party, or its opponents, is the real or the only 
motive by which it is actuated, would evince a 
very superficial knowledge of human character. 
All that we can hope for, in an inquiry like the 
present, is an approximation to the truth. And, 
though schism may have sprung from other 
causes than those we have enumerated, we 
think it will be found that all the principal dis- 
sensions which have rent the Christian Church, 
have sprung from one or other of the sources 
we have named. 

I. The first cause we have specified, and 
which originated the first schism in the Church, 
is a spirit of self-importance in its members. 
Proud of their gifts, wanton in their freedom, 
and idolising the talents of their respective 
ministers, the members of the church at Corinth 
split into factions, disregarded the claims and 
feelings of all who did not belong to their 
particular party, and exhibited all that self- 
sufficiency, love of disputation, and contumacy, 
so prominent among the vices of the Greek 
character. About fifty years after they had re- 
ceived the apostolic rebuke, the same spirit of 
impatient self-importance led them to the un- 
deserved dismissal of certain of their presbyters, 
and called forth a friendly remonstrance from 
Clement, and a deputation from the church at 
Rome. 

Such was the first " root of bitter ness" in the 
Christian vineyard — the origin of dissension in 
the Church. It appears to have been the ex- 
cess of a principle wisely implanted in the hu- 
man breast for the resistance of oppression, the 
preservation of independence, the pursuit of 



CAUSES OF SCHISM. 121 

truth, and the encouragement of enterprise and 
improvement. But when let loose in the 
Church, it degenerates into the true spirit of 
sectarianism ; is vain, opiniative, and impatient 
of restraint. Perhaps, no wound has ever been 
inflicted on the peace of the Church, which 
this spirit has not inflamed, and tended to ren- 
der incurable. In doctrine, it is speculative, 
fond of novelty, confident, and prolific of error ; 
hence arose Eutychianism, Photinianism, Sa- 
bellianism, and many other ancient errors, 
which are only so many names of schism. In 
discipline, it is impatient of government ; looks 
on the milder graces as weaknesses ; and is not 
convinced that it is free unless it is refractory 
and in a state of active resistance. In a time 
of ecclesiastical peace, it languishes for change, 
mistakes restlessness for activity, and is ingen- 
ious in discovering grounds for dissatisfaction. 
When Christians are contending for the faith, 
it is apt to mistake a love of strife for the love 
of the truth. When interested in the choice of 
a minister or bishop, (as in the ancient Church 
it often was,) it must needs set up its own idol, 
though peace, and love, and even whole 
churches, should be the first sacrifices laid on 
its altar. This is what Cyprian calls Erigere 
altare contra altare; and even describes as the 
fertile cause of all ecclesiastical disorders. 
And this is what appears to have originated the 
" grand schism," which, beginning in the rival 
elections of Urban VI. and Clement VII., di- 
vided the Roman church from 1378 to 1417, 
and contributed more than any other event to 
hasten the downfall of Papacy. And in times 



122 CAUSES OF SCHISM. 

of Reformation, this same pragmatic spirit has 
often quibbled about trifles, or pushed its de- 
mands to extremities, which have made the 
spirit of improvement itself turn away, and con- 
verted a change which might have been a 
blessing into a curse. Thus, in the third cen- 
tury, the maligned Novatians* — the earliest 
ecclesiastical reformers, and first body of Chris- 
tians that separated from the general Church — 
unhappily went the length of refusing to re- 
admit any, however contrite, who had been 
once separated from the communion of the 
Church. And, in the same way, the Donatists 
in the fourth century — the second body separa- 
ted from the general Church — who equalled 
their adversaries in soundness of doctrine, and 
surpassed them, both in strictness of discipline 
and purity of morals — extravagantly required 
that every member should be re-baptised, and 
every minister re-ordained, who came over to 
them from any other church. By which ex- 
cesses, reformation became proud intolerance, 
and separation schism. 

II. A second source of disunion in the 
Church — and the counterpart of the first — is a 
spirit of imposition in its officers. Truth is 
one and indivisible ; but the introduction of 
error is an introduction of an element of divis- 
ion. Christian love, the product of that truth, 
is one ; and is meant to place us in harmony 
with all that receive it ; but to make that which 
is not essential to salvation essential to Chris- 



The Puritans of their day — called Cathari, pure. 



CAUSES OF SCHISM. 123 

tian communion is error, and as such is an ele- 
ment of division in the Christian Church. 

" Men are so in love with their own fancies 
and opinions," says Bishop Taylor, " as to 
think faith and all Christendom are concerned 
in their support and maintenance ; and who- 
ever is not so fond, and does not dandle them 
like themselves, it grows up to a quarrel, 
which, because it is in materia theologies, is 
made a quarrel in religion, and God is entitled 
to it ; and then if you are once thought an 
enemy to God, it is our duty to persecute you 
even to death, we do God good service in it ; 
when, if we should examine the matter rightly, 
the question is either in materia non revelati, or 
?ninus evidenti, or non nccessarid ; either it is 
not revealed, or not so clearly, but that wise 
and honest men may be of different minds, or 
else it is not of the foundation of faith, but a 
remote superstructure, or else of mere specu- 
lation, or, perhaps, when all comes to all, it is 
a false opinion, or a matter of human interest, 
that we have so zealously contended for ; for to 
one of these heads most of the disputes of 
Christendom may be reduced ; so that I be- 
lieve the present fractions (or the most) are 
from the same cause which St. Paul observed 
in the Corinthian schism, ' When there are di- 
visions among you, are ye not carnal?' Thence 
come schisms and parting of communions, and 
then persecutions, and then wars and rebellion, 
and then the dissolutions of all friendships and 
societies. All these mischiefs proceed not 
from this, that all men are not of one mind, for 
that is neither necessary nor possible, but that 



124 CAUSES OF SCHISM. 

every opinion is made an article of faith, every 
article is a ground of a quarrel, every quarrel 
makes a faction, every faction is zealous, and 
all zeal pretends for God, and whatsoever is for 
God cannot be too much. We by this time are 
come to that pass, we think we love not God 
except we hate our brother ; and we have not 
the virtue of religion, unless we persecute all 
religions but our own : for lukewarmness is so 
odious to God and man, that we, proceeding 
furiously upon these mistakes, by supposing we 
preserve the body, we destroy the soul of relig- 
ion ; or by being zealous for faith, or, which is 
all one, for that which we mistake for faith, we 
are cold in charity, and so lose the reward of 
both." They who secede in consequence of 
such impositions may be wrong ; but they who 
occasion the secession must be wrong. The 
seceders, if wrong, are so only in the second 
place ; the first error consisted in sowing the 
seeds of schism. The spirit of which we are 
now speaking, delighted with the decency of 
forms, is blind to the indecency of the divisions 
they create. It originated the second schism 
of the Church, by enforcing the observance of 
Easter on a particular day. Victor, Bishop of 
Rome, a. d. 196, arrogantly ordered the Asi- 
atics to conform to the practice of Rome. 
They temperately, but firmly, resisted the ag- 
gression. Irritated at their refusal, he issued 
an edict of excommunication against all the 
churches of Asia. This act contained the first 
germ of papal arrogance ; and occasioned a 
schism between the East and the West which 
was not healed for one hundred and thirty years. 



CAUSES OF SCHISM. 125 

Indeed, to the activity of this spirit is to be 
ascribed all those rites and human additions, 
which went on accumulating age after age, till 
the Church had become full ; till outward re- 
ligion had become an elaborated ceremonial to 
which invention itself could add nothing more ; 
and which only waited till the council of Trent 
should pronounce the whole infallible and un- 
alterable, in order to render the imposition 
complete. And as every addition had sooner 
or later occasioned dissension, so this crowning 
act, intended to secure to the whole fabric eter- 
nal repose, greatly hastened its downfall by 
proclaiming aloud the necessity of a Reforma- 
tion. " Instead of composing differences in re- 
ligion," says Bishop Burnet,* " things were 
so nicely defined that they were made irrecon- 
cilable. Abuses for which there had been 
nothing but custom, and that much questioned, 
were now made warrantable." 

The Reformers, accustomed to this spirit of 
imposition in the Romish Church, brought 
away so much of it with them, though smarting 
under its effects, that even to this day the 
leaven continues to work, in different degrees, 
in almost every Protestant church- In the 
Church of England, it retained so many of the 
vestments, and enforced so many of the cere- 
monies of the Romish church, that many left 
her communion. Hence arose the sect of the 
Puritans, with the lamentable sequel of their 
sufferings and exile. In 1662, it issued the 



* History of the Preformation, Vol. III., Part II., 

278. 



126 CAUSES OF SCHISM. 

Act of Uniformity, requiring the solemn " as- 
sent and consent" of all her ministers to ob- 
servances to which many of them objected ; the 
consequence was that two thousand of her 
ablest .sons seceded, and Nonconformity en- 
sued. In the several communities into which 
Nonconformity has since divided, the same 
spirit is to be found under qualified forms, sow- 
ing discord, and creating new divisions. Here, 
its favorite instrument is a Test — an instrument 
which, by incorporating private opinions and 
human inventions with the scriptural terms of 
Christian Communion, prevents many from en- 
tering, or occasions them disquiet and induces 
them to leave after they have entered. 

The same spirit which stands at the entrance 
of St. Peter's, with the creed of Pius IV., 
" anathematising all things contrary thereto ;" 
and which stands at the gate of St. Paul's, re- 
quiring subscription to thirty-nine articles and 
the adoption of a ritual, as the terms of admis- 
sion ; stands also at the door of many a chapel, 
requiring the applicant to pronounce the Shib- 
boleth of the party within, before he can be 
allowed to cross the threshold, or be made free 
of the sect. It stands at the door of the pulpit, 
and says to the man whose life has been spent 
in the " unauthorised" proclamation of Christ 
crucified," and whose crown in heaven is laden 
with the gems of ministerial success, " De- 
scend, I know you not — my mark is not upon 
you — make way for one, who, though a stran- 
ger to vital piety, and even denying the doc- 
trines of grace, has yet more than atoned for 
the defect by the ready reception of my pe- 



CAUSES OF SCHISM. 127 

culiar mark." And taking its stand at the 
table of the Lord, it guards the feast more 
jealously from the uncertificated believer, than 
from the sealed unbeliever. Nay, in some cases, 
after the " man of God" has been breaking to 
the multitude the bread of life from the pul- 
pit, this spirit has met him on his way to the 
table of the Lord, and forbidden his approach. 
And thus does it make that sacred spot which 
should be the rallying point of all the faith- 
ful, the point of their repulsion and separa- 
tion. There, where those who had been di- 
vided before should become one, it meets those 
who up to that point had been one, and com- 
pels them to separate. At the mouth of that 
harbor in which the entire Church should 
ride together at anchor in safety and repose, 
it has thrown across a bar which none can 
pass who will not submit to its pilotage and its 
terms. Happy for the Church — happy for the 
world, that the power of this spirit terminates 
on earth : how often else would *lt have de- 
tained the unyielding Christian from his crown, 
in the chamber of affliction ; or have prevented 
his entrance into heaven, by placing at its 
portal more than a fictitious saint, and requir- 
ing more than the " Peter's pence." But he 
who has the " keys of hades and of death 
openeth and no man ^hutteth, and shutteth and 
no man openeth." 

According to Chillingworth,* " this pre- 
sumptuous imposing of the senses of men upon 
the words of God .... and laying them upon 

* Chap. iv. 16. 
12 



128 CAUSES OF SCHISM. 

men's consciences together under an equal pen- 
alty ; this vain conceit that we can speak of 
the things of God better than in the words of 
God ; this deifying our own interpretations, and 
tyrannous enforcing them upon others .... is, 
and hath been, the only fountain of all the 
schisms of the Church, and that which makes 
them immortal ; the common incendiary of 
Christendom, and that which tears into pieces, 
not the coat, but the bowels and members of 
Christ : Ridente Turca nee dolente Judcco. 
Take away these walls of separation, and all 
will quickly be one. Take away this perse- 
cuting, cursing, burning, damning of men for 
not subscribing to the words of men as the 
words of God ; require of Christians only to be- 
lieve Christ, and to call no man master, but 
him only ; let those leave claiming infallibility 
that have no title to it, and let them that in 
their words disclaim it, disclaim it likewise in 
their actions." 

III. Tfte third cause of division in the 
Church which we named, is its departure from 
scriptural purity and primitive simplicity — in 
other words, its general corruption. The very 
first step which the Church took in departure 
from its Divine original, contained in it the 
principle of future discord. Whatever that 
step may have had to r f ecommend it at the 
time, however long it may have been in pro- 
ducing its legitimate effects ; the seed was 
sown, and the bitter fruit was certain : — in this 
respect resembling that fabled tree of which it 
is related, that whoever reposed in its shade, 
and inhaled its odour, though they lay down 






CAUSES OF SCHISM. 129 

as friends, awoke to be enemies. Its earliest 
consequence would naturally be, to prepare the 
way for a second step, if not even to necessitate 
it. The effect of these would be to create a 
distaste for that book which seemed, at least, to 
rebuke the departure. And when once this 
feeling came to be indulged — when once expe- 
diency carried it over the word of God — the 
path of corruption would be broad and easy. 
Alas, how early in the history of the Church 
this dreadful consummation arrived ! and with 
what fearful rapidity the materials of corruption 
were collected and combined ! 

But every part of that prodigious organisa- 
tion of evil involved the elements of repulsion 
and dissolution. The " Unity of the Church/' 
indeed, was the theme of loud and constant 
boast. But it was the union of the contents of 
a boiling cauldron — kept together by iron force 
— but restless, heaving, and frequently ferment- 
ing over into a fire which instantly consumed 
them ; for whoever left the Church, left to his 
destruction. Even Popes were, at times, de- 
nounced as heretics ; others were excommuni- 
cated as rivals. Anathemas were hurled — 
churches were cut off — and empires laid under 
ban. Many of the religious fraternities and in- 
stitutions which sprang up, originated in a 
vague sense of the want of the unity and peace 
proper to a church : but they themselves soon 
yielded to the surrounding corruption, and in- 
dicated by their decline the eventual decay of 
the whole system. Many left, from time to 
time, chiefly for the sake of leaving schism be- 
hind them ; but they were denounced as schis- 



130 CAUSES OF SCHISM. 

matics, and punished accordingly. The Refor- 
mation commenced ; — but the Council of Trent 
embodied tenets, which till then had been left 
comparatively free, into a binding and perpetual 
creed. Protestantism, therefore, came into ex- 
istence both by right and by compulsion. Those 
materials of corruption which had, from the first, 
been creating and necessitating division, now 
produced their natural results. The Reforma- 
tion was, principally, a conflict between the 
elements of schism and the principles of catho- 
lic Christian fellowship ; so that when these 
had disengaged and detached themselves, little 
more than those remained. The church of 
Rome ceased to be catholic, and became Ro- 
man Catholic — the great schismatic of Chris- 
tendom, denouncing and consigning to per- 
dition all who do not belong to her communion. 
Well had it been for the cause of truth if all 
who left the Papal church, had left behind 
them the whole of its corruptions. Some of 
them escaped, indeed, much less infected than 
others — but none of them entirely free. And 
just in proportion as either of the Reformed 
churches retained the old leaven, in that exact 
proportion has it occasioned division, and in- 
dulged in the exclusive spirit. " Every plant," 
said Christ — and he spoke prospectively, as 
well as in reference to existing evils — " every 
plant which my heavenly Father hath not 
planted shall be rooted up." Whether it relate 
to laxity of discipline, to the multiplication of 
offices, to the imposition of rites, the assump- 
tion of exclusive powers, or the adoption of un- 
scriptural tests, the time will come when the 



CAUSES OF SCHISM. 131 

worldly exotic will be rooted up and cast away. 
No plea of expediency, of custom, of antiquity, 
or of numbers, will save it from extirpation. 
In the meantime, God will not entirely forsake 
that portion of his vineyard in which it exists, 
provided other plants of " his right hand plant- 
ing" are found there also. " Showers of bless- 
ing" shall descend there ; and often shall it 
" smell like a field which the Lord hath bless- 
ed ; but far more fragrant and fruitful would it 
be, were it not for those petty and parasitical 
additions which have gradually shaded and 
overtopped many of its fairest plants. While 
man, in the meantime, holding in his hand the 
word of God, and discovering no warrant for 
them there, shall often inquire, " How came 
they to be introduced ? and why are they suf- 
fered to continue ?" and shall either remain to 
be dissatisfied, or depart to prepare another and 
a separate enclosure. Thus corruptions mul- 
tiply divisions ; and charity, if it survive, sur- 
vives only by retiring, and retires only to 
mourn. 

IV. A fourth, and a very fertile source of 
schism is to be found in that spirit of intoler- 
ance, and self-willed ambition, which seeks to 
subordinate all men and all things to itself. 
Socrates of Constantinople excuses himself for 
occasionally introducing secular affairs into his 
ecclesiastical history, by pleading that he did so 
merely to relieve the reader, who would other- 
wise be bewildered with the quarrels of rival 
bishops and churches contending for the su- 
premacy. And yet this was as early as the 
sixth century. The head of the mighty ser- 
12* 



132 CAUSES OF SCHISM. 

pent, indeed, was seen projecting from its den 
as early as the second century, when Victor, 
Bishop of Rome, arrogated the power of com- 
manding the East ; and again in the third, 
when Stephen excommunicated the churches 
of Asia and Africa for daring to differ from him 
on the subject of baptism ; but the fangs and 
the poison were then wanting. As ages 
elapsed, the huge reptile uncoiled its volumi- 
nous folds, emerged farther and farther from its 
fearful recess,- and moved on from object to 
object, coiling around and drawing all things 
to itself, till nearly the whole of Europe was 
either lying complacently in its folds, or im- 
prisoned and crushed in its deadly convolutions, 
as in the links of fate. But the history of its 
progress to this fearful result, is the history of 
the vilest passions, and the most fatal schisms 
— schisms in which the great sees of Alexan- 
dria, Constantinople, Antioch, and especially 
Rome, stand forth in the attitude of fixed and 
sworn hostility to each other, and to every 
rival power. 

It is of the essence of intolerance that it can- 
not hear of the existence of a rival, without 
taking what it conceives to be the most expe- 
ditious method, not of reclaiming, but of pun- 
ishing and destroying him. Hence it was that 
as soon as ever the material sword came within 
its reach in the time of Constantine, it seized 
and wielded the weapon with deadly effect 
Controversies, which would otherwise have 
cooled and evaporated on paper, were thus 
raised to an adventitious importance, and be- 
queathed as legitimate quarrels to posterity. 



CAUSES OF SCHISM. 133 

And sects — the Arian especially — which would 
otherwise probably have discharged their ardor 
in words, and then have gradually fallen back 
into the ranks of the orthodox, were thus en- 
gaged to maintain and fortify their hostile posi- 
tion. 

The Inquisition is to be regarded as the true 
personification of intolerance. All the princi- 
ples and practices of bigotry which for ages had 
been accumulating and gathering strength, 
were collected and organised in that terrible 
engine of persecution. And with what appal- 
ling and wide-wasting effect did the Church 
work it ! From the moment it was completed, 
intolerance gave itself up to the fearful office. 
" Not merely the results of thought, but think- 
ing itself;" not merely heretical opinions, but 
new opinions of any kind ; became the marks 
of its hatred, and received its deadly bolts. 
The only way in which it now evinced attach- 
ment to its creed, was by destroying all who 
questioned it. 

It might have been hoped that the reformers 
who had themselves been scourged by intoler- 
ance from the church of Rome, would have 
jealously guarded against its intrusion into the 
new churches. But, alas, the demon possessed 
them. Love was the first sacrifice immolated 
on the altar of Truth. Luther, Calvin, Cran- 
mer, and Knox, protected their creeds, as far 
as they had the power, with temporal penal- 
ties. And even some of those who were driven 
by intolerance from England to America, com- 
menced a persecution against the Quakers no 
less furious than that from which they them- 
selves had fled. 



134 CAUSES OF SCHISM. 

Nor does the cause of intolerance languish 
yet. Though more than ever disowned and 
reprobated with the tongue, it enjoys the secret 
countenance, and the tried and faithful services, 
of a mixed multitude in all communions. It 
can boast of animosities as bitter — dominations 
as lordly — exactions as oppressive — calumnies 
as unfounded — and contentions as furious as 
ever. It finds as much difficulty as ever in 
conceiving of salvation out of its own little en- 
closure. It still looks on the reformer who 
only ventures humbly to suggest, and mildly to 
plead, as a schismatic and a foe. It still clings, 
if not with greater, at least with equal tenacity 
to its own little devices and ceremonial addi- 
tions, as to the great verities and ordinances of 
heaven ; enforcing them all as of equal authori- 
ty. It is as unable as ever to perceive the pre- 
ferableness of leaving the conscience free in 
non-essential things, as the Lord of conscience 
has done ; and of thus forbearing to widen a 
breach which ought never to have existed. In- 
fallibility it repudiates as a doctrine, yet still 
gives itself the unwinning airs of that lofty at- 
tribute. Penal canons which have long been 
superannuated, it still retains unrepealed, as the 
darling memorials of its more palmy days. Not 
one jot will it abate of its exclusive and jure- 
divino claims, though the great Head of the 
Church is evidently and impartially employing 
and prospering every Christian denomination, 
not according to its supposed apostolic descent, 
but its apostolic piety and zeal. Angels rejoice 
over one sinner that repenteth ; but, in every 
religious community, the spirit of intolerance 



CAUSES OF SCHISM. 135 

exults more in a proselyte from another church 
than in a convert from the world. By " the 
honor of Christ," it still means the interest of 
its own party ; by " Christian charity," the love 
of that party ; and by " scriptural union," the 
subjugation of Christendom to the cherished 
peculiarities of that party. 

These are the causes, then, which we regard 
as having been, in all ages of the Church, most 
prolific of unchristian divisions. Many of those 
divisions, indeed, which ecclesiastical writers 
have consented to call schisms, have originated 
in other causes, and should have been called by 
other names. But wherever schism has exist- 
ed — wherever the law of Christian love has 
been violated — or the peace of the Church dis- 
turbed — or those have been separated who 
ought to have been united — there, one or other 
of these causes, combined perhaps with many 
minor influences, is sure to be found present 
and active. 

Among the many important reflections sug- 
gested by this chapter, the following seem al- 
most forced on our attention. 1. That the ad- 
ditions which man has made, from time to time, 
to the ordinances of God, have been the most 
fruitful sources of agitation and quarrel. 2. That 
even these have not led to actual separation, 
until they have been authoritatively enforced 
and made indispensable. 3. That neither the 
one nor the other could have taken place, if the 
authority of the Bible had been revered and re- 
garded as paramount. 4. That the supreme 
authority of the Bible waned in the Church just 
in proportion as unsanctified wealth, and rank, 



136 CAUSES OF SCHISM. 

and influence, were allowed to gain the ascend- 
ant ; till the Church had become a worldly 
corporation, and the Bible was silenced and 
virtually expelled. 5. That the admission of 
irreligious men to place or power in a Christian 
church, is the admission of so many agents of 
schism ; and hence it is, partly, that, in the 
consummation of that kingdom which is never 
to be rent or moved, all such are to be excluded. 
6. And, that the Christian love which the Gos- 
pel breathes, and which is to be found in the 
faithful alone, is the only balm to heal the 
wounds with which the Church is bleeding at 
the hands of schism. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE MEANS BY WHICH THE DIVISIONS OF THE 
CHURCH ARE PERPETUATED. 

Owing to the operation of the causes speci- 
fied in the preceding chapter, the map of Chris- 
tendom presents to the eye of an observer three 
grand divisions, each of which is again divided 
and subdivided into numerous parts. In the 
first grand division are to be found the churches 
and sects which date prior to the Reformation. 
Here are the ancient, isolated, and deeply in- 
teresting Syrian churches of JMalay-ala — the 
Waldensian church, in the Protestant valleys of 
Piedmont — the Greek church, with its cold 
and childish formalities — the picture-loving and 
amulet-wearing Russian Church — the fasting 
and ascetic church of Armenia — the semi-Mo- 
hammedan Georgian — the incense-loving Cop- 
tic — the corrupt, but independent and papal- 
hating church of Abyssinia— and, lastly, and 
chiefly, the baptised paganism of the church of 
Rome. 

The second division contains the churches 
and sects commencing with the Reformation. 
These consist of the German Lutheran church 



138 MEANS PERPETUATING THE 

— the distinct churches of Sweden, Denmark, 
Geneva, the Helvetic reformed churches, and 
the reformed churches of France, the united 
Church of England and Ireland, and the Church 
of Scotland. 

And the third, includes those sects and 
churches which have subsequently arisen out of 
the Reformation, and which are in existence at 
the present time. Here — confining our atten- 
tion to the principal denominations existing in 
Britain — we behold the Congregational Inde- 
pendents, the Baptists, the Friends or Quakers, 
the Presbyterian Dissenters, and the Metho- 
dists, with more than one respectable and flour- 
ishing secession. 

Having traced these divisions of the Chris- 
tian Church to their principal sources in the 
preceding chapter, we have now to point out 
the influences which have originated and per- 
petuated the last class of those divisions ; es- 
pecially as they exist between the Church of 
England and the various bodies of separatists \ 
and which, are still, in some respects, widening 
the separation, as well as occasioning among 
the separatists new divisions. 

Did our limits permit, we should, for this 
purpose, present the reader, first, with an ac- 
count of those specific acts by which new 
breaches have from time to time been occasion- 
ed, or by which existing divisions have been 
widened : and then, secondly, we should point 
out those general causes which led to those acts, 
and which are still perpetuating and aggravat- 
ing their consequences. But as our limits re- 
quire us to choose between the two, we shall 



DIVISIONS OF THE CHURCH. 1 39 

select the latter ; aiming, however, to supply 
partially, by historical illustration, the want of 
the former. 

The same causes which produce divisions, 
subsequently operate to prolong them. And 
hence a spirit of factious self-importance — of 
arbitrary imposition — of consequent corruption 
— and of arrogant intolerance and ambition, 
having originated schisms, are still active in 
promoting their continuance. But following 
these waters of strive in their tortuous course 
through the Church, we find that, like other 
streams, they branch off in various directions, 
taking, as they proceed, other forms, and new 
denominations. 

I. The first of these causes in the order of 
time, if not of rank, is the predominance of 
secular influence in the internal and spiritual 
affairs of the Church. This, indeed, was the 
primary occasion of secession from the English 
Establishment. Had the Reformation here, as 
on the Continent, arisen more directly from the 
bosom of the Church itself — had it been the 
gradual result of investigation, controversy, ec- 
clesiastical zeal, and popular desire, instead of 
springing almost suddenly as it did, from royal 
spleen and caprice, there is reason to conclude 
that it would have retained fewer traces of the 
church from which it had come. 

" But Henry VIII. took the lead ; power be- 
came revolutionary ; and hence it happened, at 
least in its origin, that, as a redress of ecclesi- 
astical abuses, as an emancipation of the hu- 
man mind, the reform in England was much 
less complete than upon the Continent. It was 
13 



140 



MEANS PERPETUATING THE 



made, as might naturally be expected, in ac- 
cordance with the interests of its authors. The 
king and the episcopacy, which was here con- 
tinued, divided between themselves the riches 
and the power of which they despoiled their 
predecessors, the Popes. The effect of this 
was soon felt. The Reformation, people cried 
out, had been closed, while the greater part of 
the abuses, which had induced them to desire 
it, were still continued. 

" The Reformation appeared under a more 
popular form ; it made the same demands of 
the bishops that had been made of the Holy 
See ; it accused them of being so many Popes. 
As often as the general fate of the religious 
revolution was compromised, whenever a strug- 
gle against the ancient church took place, the 
various portions of the revolution party rallied 
together, and made common cause against the 
common enemy ; but this danger over, the 
struggle again broke out among themselves; 
the popular form again attacked the aristocratic 
and royal reform, denounced its abuses, com- 
plained of its tyranny, called upon it to make 
good its promises, and not to usurp itself the 
power which it had just dethroned."* 

As it was, indeed, it received a national exist- 
ence somewhat earlier than it otherwise would ; 
but what it gained in point of time, it lost in 
purity and in capacity of receiving subsequent 
improvement. It was modelled too closely after 
the form of a civil government, not far at that 
time from despotic, and partook too largely of 



* Guizot's History of Civilisation in Europe. 



DIVISIONS OF THE CHURCH. 141 

its lordly spirit. Splendor was considered its 
royal birthright ; and hence, many of those ap- 
pendages which ought to have been cast off, 
and left at the threshold of the ancient church, 
were unhappily retained. A large body of the 
Puritans objected to these ; " but, at this mo- 
ment," writes Bishop Jewel, " the Queen is 
unable to endure any change whatever in mat- 
ters of religion." Some of the bishops them- 
selves deprecated them ; " but," adds the same 
authority, " ice are not consulted."* The royal 
will was paramount, and would not bend ; and 
a large secession from the Establishment was 
the result. 

Then was opened a fountain of secularity 
which has ever since been flowing and operat- 
ing prejudicially to the interests of the English 
Church and of religion. The Crown retaining 
the ecclesiastical patronage and power which it 
then assumed, has continued pouring in a stream 
of worldliness, in a constant succession of world- 
ly ministers. And the Establishment, unwill- 
ing to relinquish the temporal distinction and 
prerogatives with which it was then invested, 
has continued to feed the worldliness of some 
of its members, and to grieve the spirit, and im- 
pair the usefulness of others. The consequence 
of which has been, that those without the church 
have never ceased to object and reproach, and 
those within have never ceased to rejoin. Be- 
sides which, the spirit of division is necessarily 
engendered and kept alive in her own bosom, 
between the spiritual who love her for her in- 

■ See his Letters to Peter Martyr and Bullinger. 



142 MEANS PERPETUATING THE 

trinsic excellence, and relative usefulness, and 
the secular who esteem her principally for her 
outward attractions and her dowry. In the vo- 
cabulary of the latter, " those professed mem- 
bers of the Establishment who affect the title of 
evangelical .... are schismatics," and their 
Bible and Missionary Society operations pro- 
nounced unauthorised. For as in the individual 
Christian, sin is the source of internal dissen- 
sion, " warring against the law of the mind," 
so in a Christian church, whether established 
or not, secularity, in the exact proportion in 
which it obtains, must necessarily operate as a 
disturbing power. 

II. Divisions, already existing, have been 
greatly exasperated and increased by the adop- 
tion of unscriptural tests and terms of com- 
munion, for the real or pretended purpose of 
procuring uniformity. True it is that all church- 
es must have some terms of communion ; but 
that any society assuming the name of a church, 
should establish conditions, distinct from those 
enjoined by Christ and his apostles, is, one 
would think, sufficiently presumptuous. That 
these terms should consist, partly, of things 
which the imposers themselves acknowledge to 
be " indifferent and insignificant," seems to add 
folly to presumption. But that these insignifi- 
cant things should be enforced, on men who 
conscientiously object to them, on pain of tem- 
poral ruin, seems to be an act conceived in the 
spirit of pure intolerance. " To multiply arti- 
cles," says Bishop Taylor, " and to adopt them 
into the family of the faith, and to require as- 



DIVISIONS OF THE CHURCH. 143 

sent to such articles .... equal to that assent 
we give to matters of faith, is to build a tower 
upon the top of a bulrush ; and the further the 
effect of such proceedings does extend, the 
worse they are ; the very making such a law is 
unreasonable ; the inflicting spiritual censures 
upon them that cannot do so much violence to 
their understanding as to obey, is ineffectual 
and unjust." " If they be little things only that 
we add," says the catholic-spirited Howe, " we 
must know that there is nihil minimum — noth- 
ing little in religion. What if, little as they 
are, many think them sinful, and are thereby 
thrown off from our communion ! The less 
they are, the greater the sin to make them ne- 
cessary, to hang so great things upon them, 
break the church's peace and unity by them, 
and of them to make a new Gospel, new terms 
of life and death, a new way to heaven .... It 
is, in effect, to say, If you will not take Chris- 
tianity with these additions of ours, you shall 
not be Christians, you shall have no Christian 
ordinances, no Christian worship : we will, as 
far as in us is, exclude you heaven itself, and 
all means of salvation. And upon the same 
ground on which they may be excluded one 
communion by such arbitrary measures, they 
may be excluded another also, and be received 
nowhere. And if the terms of these commun- 
ions differ, they all exclude one another ; and 
hence, so many churches, so many Christen- 
doms. If this be sinful, it is a sin of the deep- 
est die. And if the holy Scriptures speak with 
such severitv, as we know they do, of the alter- 
13* 



144 MEANS PERPETUATING THE 

I 

ing of man's landmarks, what may we think of 
altering God's !"* 

And yet such was the famous Act of Uni- 
formity, by which, in 1662, the English Church 
lost two thousand ministers, many of whom 
ranked among the most pious, useful, and ex- 
emplary of her clergy ; the validity of Presbyte- 
rian ordination was renounced ; the ministra- 
tions of the foreign churches were disowned ; 
the terms of conformity raised higher than be- 
fore the civil wars ; and, contrary to the man- 
ner of proceeding in the times of Elizabeth and 
Cromwell — both of whom reserved for the sub- 
sistence of each ejected clergyman a fifth of his 
benefice — no provision was made for those who 
should be deprived of their livings ;t in conse- 
quence of which the demon of schism received 
an accession of seven-fold activity, and an in- 
definite grant of life. 

But if we suppose the act so sinful, "how far," 
asks the same impartial Howe, " doth the guilt 
of it spread. How few among the several sorts 
and parties of Christians are innocent, if the 
measures of their several communions were 
brought under just and severe examination ! 
How few that lay their communions open to 
visible Christians as such, excluding none of 
whatsoever denomination ; nor receiving any 
that by Christian rational estimate cannot be 
judged such !" Yes, how few the churches 
that have not had the Hydes and the Sheldons 
of that day among their advisers and their mem- 

* Preface to The Carnality of Religious Contention, 
t Mosheim, Vol. v., p. 369. Mote. 



DIVISIONS OF THE CHURCH. 145 

bers ! How few that have not even now their 
own JittJe Acts of Uniformity extant and in 
operation ! How large the sect of the intoler- 
ant in every church — men to whom history re- 
lates all the instances of the wickedness and 
inutility of persecution in vain — who lay great 
stress on little things, magnifying trifles into 
matters of grave importance — who flatter them- 
selves that their creed or test includes all truth 
and excludes all error — that their little enclos- 
ure, with its wicket entrance, contains and mo- 
nopolises the Saviour of the world — who would 
make their conscience the universal rule, and 
look on every conscience that differs from it as 
culpably ignorant and even punishably perverse 
— and whose millennium consists of a state of 
unexceptionable conformity to their creed. 

Ever let us remember that the Christian 
Church, in its scriptural state, contains nothing 
but pure and catholic principles of all-embracing 
love.* The exclusive spirit, therefore, is the 
schismatic spirit : and he who prescribes a term 
of communion with it of his own devising — 
however simple in itself, and plausible in its 
appearance — is putting a price on the bread of 
life, and throwing a bar across the entrance to 
a city of refuge ; and they who continue that 
term, share his responsibility, and are charge- 
able with perpetuating the schism of intoler- 
ance. 

III. The evil in question is maintained also, 

* Is a Church in " its scriptural state," without 
belief of the truth, and obedience to the laws of 
Christ? Ed. 



146 MEANS PERPETUATING THE 

according to Lord Bacon,* " by an extreme 
and unlimited detestation of some heresy or 
corruption of the Church already acknowledged 

and convicted Men have made it as 

it were their scale, by which to measure the 
bounds of the most perfect religion — taking it 
by the farthest distance from the error last con- 
demned. " This strong tendency of a divided 
Church to seek truth in extremes, he afterwards 
traces in a manner which serves to illustrate 
the progress of ecclesiastical divisions general- 
ly. This proneness to embrace the opposite of 
wrong as necessarily right, is seen in the ex- 
treme demand which some of the Puritans 
made for the re-ordination of the clergy from 
the Papal church ; and in the antagonist posi- 
tion maintained by the Church of England, that 
they alone could properly serve at her altars 
without re-ordination. It led some of the Non- 
conformists to condemn those of their brethren 
who practised " occasional conformity, " or com- 
munion with the Church of England ; and led 
some of the members of that church to intro- 
duce a bill into the House of Commons against 
" occasional conformity," which utterly inca- 
pacitated a man for holding any civil office, un- 
less his communion with the Establishment was 
constant. Thus, many of the adherents of each 
side, forgetting the great Christian principles 
which they held in common, degenerated into 
a faction, which strictly prohibited its respec- 
tive members from intercommunion ; and which 
thus changed the catholic " communion of 

* Church Controversies. 



DIVISIONS OF THE CHURCH. 147 

saints" into the exclusive communion of parti- 
sans. 

And still this factious spirit may be traced, 
jealous of any communication between the par- 
ties, except an interchange of frowns, and looks 
of defiance. Each side may be conscious of 
certain defects in its own system, and may per- 
ceive certain excellences in the system of the 
other ; but it fears to confess the former, or to 
admit and adopt the latter, lest it should look 
like a concession to the superiority of its oppo- 
nents. It is an ancient maxim of wisdom, that 
it is right to learn even from an enemy ; ac- 
cordingly, an army no sooner finds that the foe 
is employing a new and an effectual weapon, than 
it immediately copies and adopts the deadly in- 
vention ; but an ecclesiastical faction, heedless 
of the maxim, and more saturated with hostility 
than the ranks of war, would regard the adop- 
tion of a useful principle or measure by its sup- 
posed opponents, as an adequate reason for 
never introducing it into its own service. Many 
a Churchman perceives the benefit which would 
accrue to public devotion, by combining with 
the liturgy the advantages of free prayer ; and 
many a Dissenter feels that parts of the liturgy 
would enhance the advantages of extemporane- 
ous prayer ; but the spirit of party forbids the 
improvement, lest the one should appear to be 
conceding to the other. Indeed, there is rea- 
son to fear, that should either become so far 
superior to this evil spirit as to adopt the im- 
provement, the other would regard it as an ad- 
ditional argument for remaining in statu quo. 
Thus it is that the advocates of a principle de- 



148 MEANS PERPETUATING THE 

(generate into the partisans of a faction ; the 
protended preference for truth becomes a con- 
flict of prejudices ; and men who should be 
living together at the equator, have removed 
from each other to the poles. 

IV. An obstinate attachment to things as 
they are, is another cause of perpetuating divi- 
sions. The blind zeal of innovation, we admit, 
is equally to be condemned. But the spirit of 
which we now speak is, not that which depre- 
cates revolution, but which refuses improve- 
ment. Had it existed under the patriarchal 
dispensation, it would fain have prolonged that 
imperfect economy to the present day. It for- 
gets that immutability belongs alone to infinite 
perfection ; and that gradual change is a condi- 
tion essential to adaptation and finite progres- 
sion. It may flow from three causes. Some- 
times, it arises probably from a reluctance to 
surrender any thing which was once held dear 
by our ancestors. But, however chivalrous, 
and, to a certain extent laudable, such a feeling 
may be, we should bear in mind that, by cor- 
recting an abuse, we are not questioning their 
piety, only admitting that they were not per- 
fect ; that the will of God is paramount to every 
other consideration : and that the best tribute 
we can pay to departed excellence is to try to 
improve on it. Sometimes, it may spring from 
a selfish regard to temporal emolument. The 
makers of shrines for the goddess Diana could 
little be expected to allow any change in the 
form or worship of the image, if the sale or the 
profits of the shrines were to be thereby dimin- 
ished. As little can those be expected to listen 



DIVISIONS OF THE CHURCH. 149 

to any plan of ecclesiastical improvement whose 
highest desires are realised in obtaining a world- 
ly competence from their religious office : ex- 
cept, indeed, the plan should secure an increase 
of property and distinction. To all such, the 
idea of change is closely associated with the 
idea of loss, poverty, and ruin. And, in other 
instances, it doubtless originates in pride. The 
adoption of a proposed change would imply that 
we had been wrong ; that we were not so wise 
yesterday as we are to-day — a humiliation which 
our self-importance cannot brook. A spirit of 
improvement, by marking the signs of the times, 
taking counsel of wisdom, and correcting obvi- 
ous defects, would be eminently a spirit of con- 
ciliation. By evincing merely a loittingness to 
advance, where improvement was necessary, 
we should be disarming our bitterest foes, and 
changing the more estimable of our opponents 
into friends ; we should be rendering that which 
is good much more efficient ; that which is effi- 
cient, popular ; and that which is popular, per- 
manent. But a spirit of blind and bigoted at- 
tachment to things as they are, by virtually 
claiming infallibility, proclaims our infatuation ; 
renders reconciliation hopeless ; and furnishes 
those who differ from us with a ground of self- 
justification and triumph. 

V. A fruitful source of the schismatic spirit 
in the present day, is the wide-spread preva- 
lence of ecclesiastical assumption. The writer 
is aware that a large class of British Christians 
look on the political ascendency of the Episco- 
pal Church through its connexion with the 
State, as one of the chief causes of schism. 



1 50 MEANS PERPEUATING THE 

And, no doubt, the exaltation of one part of the 
Christian community to the necessary depres- 
sion of the other parts, has inflamed — whether 
justifiably or not, we stop not here to inquire — 
the jealousies and animosities of all. But judg- 
ing from the Christian amity and co-operation 
which have existed in many places between 
Episcopalians and Dissenters, notwithstanding 
the political ascendency in question ; and re- 
membering how much closer still the bonds of 
union might be drawn on the removal of cer- 
tain canonical restrictions ; we are led to con- 
clude that both might enjoy the substantial 
fruits of Christian union, even during the exist- 
ence of that ascendency. On the other hand, 
remembering the exclusive spirit of a certain 
part of the Christian community in America, 
where no such political ascendency exists, we 
are compelled to infer that the separation of 
Church and State would not necessarily heal 
existing divisions ; but the cause we have just 
specified — ecclesiastical assumption — might still 
be nearly as prolific as ever in alienation and 
strifes. 

Though the reader may unhappily have be- 
come familiar with the language and tenets of 
such assumption — so frequently has it of late 
been employed — though he may be aware that 
it affirms the Established Church to be the only 
true and real church, (the church of Rome ex- 
cepted ;) declares the ministry of every other 
communion to be invalid ; its sacraments nuga- 
tory ; and its members consequently exposed to 
perdition — he may not be so familiar with the 
fact that these air-built claims and unchristian 



DIVISIONS OF THE CHURCH. 151 

denunciations do not belong to the original con- 
stitution of the English Church, but are the 
subsequent additions of a Protestant Popery. 
There is not in her Articles, Homilies, or Lit- 
urgy, a single sentence that disfranchises other 
Protestant churches ; nor is the validity of her 
sacraments any where traced up to the Episco- 
pal succession. On the contrary, the twenty- 
third article was wisely framed so as to ac- 
knowledge the orders of Christian ministers of 
all denominations : for it declares, that " we 
ought to judge those to be lawfully called and 
sent into the ministry which are chosen and 
called to this work by men who have public 
authority given unto them in the congregation 
to call and send ministers into the Lord's vine- 
yard." Accordingly, a considerable number of 
ministers were, in the reigns of Edward Vi. 
and Queen Elizabeth, employed in the English 
Establishment, who had only received Presby- 
terian ordination in Holland or at Geneva. 
Knox, the Scots Reformer ; Whittingham, Dean 
of Durham ; the learned Wright, of Cambridge ; 
Morrison, a Scots divine ; and Travers, chap- 
lain to Secretary Cecil, and lecturer to the 
Temple, are among the names which first oc- 
cur to us. " All the churches professing the 
Gospel," writes Travers to Lord Treasurer Bur- 
leigh, " receive likewise to the exercise of the 
ministry among them, all such as have been 
lawfully called before in any of the churches of 
our confession. And in the Church of England 

the same hath been always observed 

unto this day." 

We know, also, that several of the foreign 
14 



152 



MEANS PERPETUATING THE 



Reformers were invited to England by Edward. 
Peter Martyr had the divinity chair given him 
at Oxford ; Bucer had the same at Cambridge ; 
while Ochinus and Fagius had canonries in 
English cathedrals. " The Reformers,'' says 
Neale, " admitted the ordination of foreign 
churches by mere presbyters till towards the 
middle of this reign, (Elizabeth ;) when their 

validity began to be disputed and denied 

Thus the Church advanced in her claims, and 
removed by degrees to a greater distance from 
the foreign Protestants." And, having reached 
a spot sufficiently distant to satisfy their arro- 
gance and intolerance, the children of bigotry 
have busied themselves ever since in building 
themselves in from the approaches of Christian 
charity ; and, at this moment, the writers of the 
Oxford Tracts are employed in completing the 
ramparts, mounting their artillery, and denounc- 
ing the whole of Protestant Christendom, with 
the mimic thunders of the Vatican. " Almost 
the only Protestant church who have retained 
the episcopal form, are we,* in this nineteenth 
century, to exhibit to the world the odious in- 
tolerance which would unchurch almost all the 
churches of Christendom, except that which has 
long been defaced by inveterate corruptions, and 
stained with the blood of the saints? Never 
again, I hope, will any one who calls himself a 
minister of Christ in the Church of England, so 
offend against Christ through his people, as to 
deny his commission to the great and good men 



* Fundamental Reform of the Church Establish- 
ment, &c. By a Clergyman. P. 41. 



DIVISIONS OF THE CHURCH. 153 

who labored with Luther, Zuingle, Calvin, and 
Knox, to establish the profession of the Gospel 
in Germany, Switzerland, and Scotland. Never 
may the faithful ministers of Christ now labor- 
ing in the Pays de Vaud, at Geneva, in France, 
and in Germany, think of us, as disgraced by 
the bigotry which would deny them to be min- 
isters of Christ. Never may Guassen Adolphe 
Monod, Merle d'Aubigne, Colany Nee, Tho- 
luck, and the other excellent men who are la- 
boring on the Continent to promote religion, 
think of us, as extruding them from the visible 
Church of Christ. By so doing, we in fact ex- 
communicate ourselves, and are found in mel- 
ancholy isolation from the purest churches of 
Christ, and in hateful conjunction with that 
one which the word of God has branded with 
an irreversible anathema. But if we fraternise 
with the churches on the Continent, we are 
equally bound to recognise the churches of 
America, and the Dissenters of England. Their 
orders are the same— their discipline little dif- 
fers. What reason is there for allowing the 
Presbyterian orders of Geneva, and denying the 
congregational orders of New England? And 
if the congregational orders of New England 
be allowed, why should we disallow those of 
Bristol, of Birmingham, or of London? When 
will our sectarian jealousies cease ? Surely we 
cannot any longer deny the orders of foreign 
churches ; and common sense forbids that we 
allow those orders abroad and disallow them at 
home. But if we do no longer disallow them, 
the acknowledgment should be public, and gen- 
erous, and brotherly. Let not other denomina- 



154 



MEANS PERPETUATING THE 



tions see, or fancy, that we now cherish an 
irreligious sectarianism in ourselves, more ex- 
clusive and more proud than that which we 
condemn in them." 

Nor let the Dissenter hastily conclude that 
he is quite invulnerable to the charge of secta- 
rian assumption. As often as he dogmatises on 
the minute particulars of the apostolic pattern ; 
denounces as unsound and unsafe whatever is 
not at the farthest possible remove from certain 
supposed errors ; demands that every church 
on earth should be moulded according to his 
notions of the primitive model ; and, in the 
pride of his heart, anticipates the universal ex- 
tension of his favorite government unimproved 
and entire ; he is making an additional remove 
from the enlarged and enlightened charity of 
the Gospel, is an active agent of dissension, 
and is proving himself nearer of kin than he 
imagines to the intolerants of Oxford and of 
Rome. 

VI. Another very effectual means of per- 
petuating divisions among Christians consists 
in the illiberal prejudices instilled by a party 
education into the minds of youth. The reli- 
gious department of instruction is occupied, by 
many a parent and tutor, not so much with the 
inculcation of the fundamental doctrines and 
cardinal duties of Christianity, as in teaching 
their pupils the peculiarities of their own party, 
and the errors and evils of those from whom 
they chiefly differ. But even were they sensi- 
ble of this impropriety, and disposed to avoid it, 
where is the stream of ecclesiastical history to 
which they can point the youthful lip, unadul- 



DIVISIONS OF THE CHURCH. 155 

terated by the ore and earth of the party-chan- 
nel through which it flows ? and how few the 
youth who have read treatises of doctrinal the- 
ology without imbibing prejudices against a 
party, owing to the unjust representation they 
received of its peculiar tenets, or of their sup- 
posed practical consequences. Thus character 
is poisoned in its infancy, by the very means 
which should have been its aliment and life. 
The mind becomes a soil prepared for the 
growth of every root of bitterness ; predisposed 
for whatever is intolerant in spirit, angry in 
controversy, and slanderous in report. The 
party whose prejudices he inherits, gains a 
bigot ; every other party, an enemy ; and the 
universal Church of Christ, whose agent and 
ornament he might have become, is stained 
with disgrace. 

VII. The application to our opponents of 
reproachful epithets is also to be numbered 
among the auxiliaries of schism. Terms of this 
kind have always been acting an important part 
in the history of mankind. On every subject 
exciting to the passions, whether good or bad, 
their influence has always been great ; and es- 
pecially, therefore, on that most momentous and 
exciting of all subjects — religion. Here, almost 
every appellation has been either a weapon, a 
stigma, a pass-word, or a badge. Nearly every 
leading ecclesiastical term has an eventful his- 
tory of its own. Epithets which at first were 
innocent and merely distinctive, like the dis- 
tinctive rods of the Egyptian diviners, have 
been changed into serpents by the necromancy 
of the passions. Terms which, at first, only 
14* 



156 



MEANS PERPETUATING THE 



served, have at length, like many an obscure 
individual in eastern lands, come to exercise a 
despotic sway. And terms which were once 
offensively employed, have at length, like an- 
cient weapons of war, been displaced by others 
more sure in their aim, and more destructive in 
their effect ; and have even come to be employ- 
ed as terms of honor and excellence. The 
transmigration of ecclesiastical terms is no fable. 
The epithets, Puritans, Methodists, Secta- 
rians, Schismatics, Saints, Evangelicals, Volun- 
taries, Compulsories, have each in turn been 
pressed and sworn into the service of party. 
And the worst purposes of party they answer in 
two ways. They are so easily remembered and 
expeditiously applied, compared with an argu- 
ment, that numbers who could neither compre- 
hend nor employ the latter, are retained in the 
cause of faction by means of the former. And, 
having once employed them, their anger rises, 
and their contempt of those against whom the 
epithets are cast increases, in exact proportion 
to the frequency with which they are repeated. 
And, besides inflaming the passions of those 
who employ them, by excitement, they wound 
and irritate those who are their objects, by in- 
sult. An argument might be answered or evad- 
ed ; a historical fact might be met by a counter 
fact ; and an assertion be neutralised by denial ; 
and, in either case, the second person feels that 
he has done something, and is satisfied. But a 
term of reproach is the barbed and poisoned ar- 
row of controversy which remains and rankles ; 
which turns anger into hatred, and an oppo- 
nent into a foe. True, he may retaliate in 



DIVISIONS OF THE CHURCH. 157 

kind ; but, in that case, the evil is doubled ; 
" the rent is made worse." 

VIII. The very exceptionable manner in 
which ecclesiastical controversies are conduct- 
ed in the present day, necessarily tends to in- 
flame division. And here we might advert to 
the growing frequency with which the pulpit is 
made the vehicle of inflammatory appeals. That 
hallowed spot which, like another Calvary, 
should be sacred to the cross, is lighted up with 
the strange fires of " the wrath of man." When 
the minister should pour out nothing but the 
result of his closet devotions and scriptural 
meditations, he boils over with the unholy ex- 
citement of newspaper and pamphlet appeals. 
Where the private Christian comes for the pure 
bread of life, he receives it, if at all, mixed with 
the gravel and thorns of ecclesiastial debate. 
And, there, where the perturbed should come 
to be tranquillised, the peaceful leave in a state 
of alarming apprehension of some impending 
calamity. 

Another circumstance to be greatly deplored 
is, that the religious controversy should have 
fallen so completely into the hands of men 
whose principal qualification for conducting it 
lies in their pugnacity ; and who have acquired 
the office chiefly by the reckless extravagance 
of their statements, and the energy of their 
abuse. These are the Circumcelliones of the 
third century, and the Montanarii of the four- 
teenth — the mercenaries and bludgeon-men of 
the war, who are comparatively regardless 
whether party triumphs over principle or the 
reverse, provided they continue to enjoy their 



158 



MEANS PERPETUATING THE 



notoriety and to receive their pay. Bacon re- 
marked concerning the " Church Controversies" 
of his day, that to search and rip up wounds 
with a laughing countenance ; to intermix Scrip- 
ture and scurrility in one sentence ; the majes- 
ty of religion and the contempt and deformity 
of things ridiculous ; is a thing far from the 
reverence of a devout Christian, and hardly be- 
coming the honest regard of a sober man. There 
are now lying before the writer numerous ex- 
tracts from anonymous pamphlets, magazines, 
essays, tracts, and newspapers, in which all that 
Bacon deprecated is done, and much more.* 
Here, on both sides, historical facts are distort- 
ed, Scripture is misquoted and misapplied, faults 
are blackened and magnified into startling 
crimes, the rules of argumentative justice are 
grossly violated, obvious mistakes are eagerly 
seized and aggravated into intentional false- 
hood, candid admissions are taken advantage of 
and turned into grave accusations, the sanctity 
of private friendship is profaned, old and one- 
sided information is received and employed in 
preference to that which is more recent and 
complete, seeming inconsistencies enlarged on 
as real contradictions, parts of statements quoted 
as the whole, and citations perverted so as to 
convey a meaning contrary to the intention of 
the author, and of truth ; and all this is done 
too in the name of the God of Truth and Love 



* It should not be forgotten that the author is an 
Englishman, and that his expressions take their cast 
and coloring from the peculiar controversies now rag- 
ing in his own country between the Establishment 
and Dissenters. Ed. 



DIVISIONS OF THE CHURCH. 159 

— with a plausible affectation of sincere concern 
for the prosperity of religion ! The consequence 
is, that the calm and Christian reasoner shrinks 
from the unholy conflict ; the voice of the aged 
counsellor is drowned in the clamors of party ; 
the meek and prayerful retire from the strife of 
tongues ; and the arena is left comparatively to 
men whose only object is to return blow for 
blow — men, whose element is a tempest, and 
their chief distinction that, like a certain bird 
of prey, they can fly only in a storm. The 
world meanwhile looks on amused ; the parti- 
san heartens and cheers on his champion to the 
next onset ; the unwary Christian spectator 
himself insensibly encourages and imbibes the 
factious spirit ; and, in some instances, an indi- 
vidual who only meant to step between the hos- 
tile ranks as a mediator, has soon sided with a 
party, and joined in the fray. While many pe- 
riodical publications, conceived and commenced 
on Christian principles, have quickly discovered 
that their own friends mistook their freedom 
from passion for want of spirit ; and, therefore, 
in order to maintain their ground, they inflame 
where they ought to have extinguished, and 
add to the conflagration of a temple already on 
fire. 

IX. And then the conduct of a large pro- 
portion of the religious public aggravates this 
evil considerably, by confining its reading and 
intercourse exclusively to its own party. If 
truth were preferred to triumph, men would re- 
member that it is not the monopoly of a party ; 
and, on enlarging the sphere of their reading 
and observation, they would find so much to 



160 THE DIVISIONS OF THE CHURCH. 

question where they had hitherto placed im- 
plicit confidence; and so much to approve 
where they had previously bestowed all their 
suspicions and censures, that the evil complain- 
ed of would in a great measure neutralise itself. 
Instead of this, however, they are content to 
hear faults imputed to others without any ex- 
amination, and praise lavished on themselves 
with little qualification ; until, having heard for 
years of nothing concerning their own party 
but its excellence, nor of their opponents but 
their errors and evils, it ceases to be wonderful 
that they should identify all goodness with the 
former, and feel as if the greatest virtue next to 
loving and applauding it, must consist in vilify- 
ing and opposing the latter. 



CHAPTER VI. 



TESTS OF THE SCHISMATICAL SPIRIT IN INDIVIDU- 
ALS AND IN CHURCHES. 

While the reader has been occupied, in the 
pages immediately preceding, in tracing the 
divisions of Christians, and the perpetuation of 
the evil, to their various causes, his mind, 
whether consciously or not, has no doubt occa- 
sionally applied the description to what he 
knows of himself, of the church to which he 
belongs, or of other churches from which he 
differs — and has drawn its conclusions of guilt 
or innocence accordingly. But supposing him 
to be daily impressed with the magnitude of the 
evil we deplore, he will not be satisfied with so 
vague and cursory an application of the subject; 
he will be ready at once to institute " great 
searchings of heart." Were Christians in gen- 
eral but to become adequately affected with the 
enormity of the evil, a loud and irresistible cry 
would he heard in every church, calling, not 
merely for individual scrutiny, but for the in- 
stant, impartial, and prayerful examination of 
each church in its collective capacity. The 
announcement would go forth, " Blow ye the 
trumpet, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assem- 



162 TESTS OP A SCHISMATICAL SPIRIT 

bly," as if the trumpets of Sinai had convoked 
us together — as if he " who walks in the midst 
of the churches,'' had just despatched epistles 
to the " angels" of our respective communities 
— we should not merely " suffer," but invite 
the word of exhortation, and lay ourselves open 
to its searching influence. As if he himself 
had come down to conduct the solemn process 
of investigation, we should humbly invite him 
to ascend the seat of judgment, and say, " Search 
us, O God, and see what evil there is in us, and 
lead us in the way everlasting." And suppose 
that in compliance with our request he should 
actually assume the office ; — as each church, in 
succession, came up for inspection ; as its his- 
tory was slowly, patiently, and impartially 
brought to light ; as its state, at present, passed 
under the eye of flaming fire ; and as the heart 
of each of its members was laid open and bare 
— what strange and unexpected disclosures 
would take place ! How many of our present 
subjects of congratulation and joy would prove 
to be reasons for humiliation and grief! how 
many who have hitherto enjoyed the title of 
champions of the truth, would depart, branded 
as agents of strife and ringleaders of faction ! 
In many instances, the accuser would be seen 
taking the place of the accused ; and the sup- 
posed and compassionated victim of schism be 
denounced as its author. Terms of communion 
not prescribed in the word of God — tests of dis- 
cipleship devised by man — symbols of party, 
and badges of distinction — many of those things 
which the churches generally make their boast 
and their glory — would be denounced as the 



i 



IN INDIVIDUALS AND IN CHURCHES. 163 

creatures of faction, and the causes of strife, 
where, otherwise, charity would have reigned 
in peace. 

1. Such an investigation, however, is reserv- 
ed for another day. Let us aim impartially to 
anticipate its awards, by sitting in judgment on 
ourselves now. In order to assist the reader in 
this important exercise, we would respectfully 
ask him, first, whether he has ever considered 
the possibility — we say the bare possibility — of 
Ins being a schismatic ? or whether he is pre- 
pared to admit the possibility that the church 
to which he belongs may be in any degree ame- 
nable to the charge ? We are persuaded that 
many a Christian knows so little of the scriptu- 
ral nature of schism, and has heard it charged 
so exclusively on parties to which he does not 
belong, that the idea of associating the sin with 
himself or his church, is almost as startling and 
difficult to him, as if the sin were theft or even 
murder. And yet the possibility we have de- 
scribed must be admitted by him, in order that 
the subject in its present stage may obtain an 
entrance into his mind. To this end, it will 
surely be sufficient to remind him that had he 
been a member of either of the most flourishing 
of the primitive churches, his liability to the 
evil in question would have been obviously im- 
plied in the cautions which the inspired epistles 
to those churches contain against it. He will 
find by reference to the brief analysis of those 
epistles contained in our first section, that the 
churches of Ephesus, Philippi, and Thessaloni- 
ca — the prime of the best — were anxiously ad- 
monished against all approaches to unchristian 
15 



164 



TESTS OF A SCHISMATICAL SPIRIT 



divisions ; as if the apostle would thus warn the 
Christians and churches of all subsequent times 
that they are not exempt from the same danger. 
" He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear 
what the Spirit saith unto the churches." 

2. But if the evil be possible, it may also at 
one time and degree or another have been ac- 
tual. The reader may almost take it for grant- 
ed that the denomination to which he belongs 
has not escaped the charge of, at least, tending 
to schism, by those who differ from it ; and un- 
less he knows the character of each, of all, the 
members who have ever belonged to it, some 
of them may have scattered the seeds of divi- 
sion ; and, unless he knows every incident of 
its history, some of those incidents may have 
tended to create dissension; and, unless he 
could say how the constitution of his church 
would have struck him if he had never heard 
of it till to day, or if he had been taught from 
infancy to prefer another constitution, some of 
the feelings which, in that case, the object of 
his present admiration might have justly excited, 
might have tended to keep him at a distance 
from it. 

3. Has the reader, then, ever examined the 
constitution, history, and state of the church to 
which he belongs, by that standard by which 
all churches, and all their members, will be 
finally judged — the word of God ? Is he satis- 
fied that were all books except this lost from 
the earth, his church would find its entire con- 
stitution sanctioned and supported by the facts 
and principles recorded there ? Does he be- 
long to a class who persuade themselves that 



IX INDIVIDUALS AND IN CHURCHES. 165 

their church is perfect — that Infinite Perfection 
could not say to it, " I have somewhat against 
thee V s and if he does not, has he ever search- 
ed for the beam or the mote ? does he deplore 
it ? and is he ready to assist in casting it out ? 

4. The schism of the church at Corinth did 
not respect its conduct towards other churches, 
but was confined to the members of its own lit- 
tle circle. Has the conduct of the reader ever 
tended to disturb the peace of the particular as- 
sembly with which he worships? If, when an 
evil report has been propagated concerning any 
of its members, he has improperly lent himself 
to promote its circulation, " taking up a reproach 
against his neighbor" — if, when his personal 
accommodation has been involved, he has pre- 
ferred his own ease to the peace of the society 
at large — if, when called to exercise his influ- 
ence in any of its arrangements and appoint- 
ments, he has raised or encouraged a faction, 
saying, " I am of Paul, or, I am of Apollos" — 
if, when a question of precedence has arisen, 
he has shown that he " loveth to have the pre- 
eminence," and has angrily contended for it — 
if, when a real evil has called for excision, he 
has gone about it roughly and unfeelingly, in- 
stead of cutting it off as if it had been his own 
hand, or plucking it out as if it were his' own 
eye — if, owing to superior endowments, or 
wealth, or office, he possesses influence, but de- 
means himself haughtily or arbitrarily, " lord- 
ing it over God's heritage" — or if, comparative- 
ly destitute of influence, he be yet capricious, 
complaining, heady, and meddling — in either 
of these cases, his conduct is calculated to re- 



166 TESTS OF A SCHISMATICAL SPIRIT 

produce the scenes which disgraced the church 
at Corinth ; he is chargeable with having in- 
dulged a schismatical spirit. 

5. Howe, in his sermons on " the Carnality 
of Religious Contentions," enumerates the fol- 
lowing indications of such carnality : — when 
we make little account of the important things 
in which we agree, compared with the lesser 
things about which we differ — when we lay 
greater stress than is needful on some unscrip- 
tural words in delivering scriptural doctrine — 
w r hen we show too little indulgence to one an- 
other's mistakes and misapplication of Scrip- 
ture terms — when we are over-intent to mould 
and square the truths of the Gospel by human 
measures and models — when there is a dis- 
cernible proneness to oppose the great things 
of the Gospel to one another, and to exalt and 
magnify one above or against another — when 
any contend with unusual zeal for the sacred- 
ness or spirituality of a particular opinion, in 
order that under that pretence, they may in- 
dulge their carnal inclination with the greater 
liberty — when in maintaining a truth in opposi- 
tion to others, we industriously pervert their 
meaning, and impute to them things they never 
say — when such disputes arise at length to 
wrath and angry strife — when we proceed to 
judge of the consciences and states of those 
from whom we differ — when we unduly exalt 
ourselves and seek to subjugate all to our stand- 
ard — and when we discover a pleasure in hav- 
ing such disputes continued without any limit 
or rational design. 

6. Though the reader may be guiltless in 



IN INDIVIDUALS AND IN CHURCHES. 167 

each of these respects, he may yet belong to a 
particular church, or a denomination, which 
exacts unscriptural conditions from those who 
seek communion with it;* which excludes 
some whom Christ has received, and, perhaps, 
receives others whom Christ has not accepted ; 
which raises the mere lines of ecclesiastical de- 
marcation into lofty ramparts on which to plant 
the artillery of an interminable conflict, and 
which thus presents an exclusive and repulsive 
aspect to every other part of the Christian com- 
munity, — and, by silently conniving at these 
evils, he may be implicated in the guilt which 
they involve. 

Whatever the denomination of Christians to 
which the reader may belong, he can hardly 
look around without perceiving that there is 
one class of the Christian public more directly 
confronting his denomination than any other. 
Towards any of the others his feelings and con- 
duct may not be unscriptural, but what is his 
temper towards that ? Is he cool and distant 
towards its members? If he had fallen into 
Christian or friendly conversation with one of 
them as a stranger, would he become reserved 
towards him on discovering his denominational 
badge? Has he ever been conscious of impa- 
tience on listening to an account of their pros- 
perity ? When repeating a report of their faults 
or disgraces, has the evil never been magnified 
in his hands? Does he experience a pleasure 
in relating their inconsistencies, " rejoicing in 

* What are the scriptural conditions of commun- 
ion ? Ed. 

15* 



168 TESTS OF A SCHISMATICAL SPIRIT 

iniquity," because it is their iniquity ? Would 
he complacently witness a course of conduct 
towards them, which he would deem improper 
and intolerant towards any other class ? Has 
he on no occasion worshipped with them ; or, 
if he have, has he resolved that he never will 
again ? Would it be in vain for one of them to 
apply to him for pecuniary aid, even if the ob- 
ject to be aided bid fair to effect good of the 
highest kind? Is he pleased at any measure 
which, by drawing his own party into closer 
compact, draws it proportionably off from them ? 
Is he most pleased with those champions of his 
party who assail them with the roughest vio- 
lence ? And is he inclined to depreciate the 
less violent of his own party as neutral and 
tame ? 

7. The reader himself, perhaps, has appear- 
ed before the public as the advocate of the de- 
nominational system to which he belongs, or of 
the particular state and relations in which his 
denomination at present stands. But every 
Christian is not called to this special task ; 
many have injured the cause they have espous- 
ed, by their rashness and incompetence. Was 
he more anxious to state the truth amiably, or 
smartly and pungently ? Did he think more of 
what the truth required of him, or of what was 
expected of him by his parky ? Did he indite 
as if under their eye, and as if receiving already 
by anticipation the applause of being their 
champion ? And when that particular exercise 
ended, what was the new state of his mind to- 
wards the party opposed ? — one of increased, or 
of diminished concern for their welfare ? Did 



IN INDIVIDUALS AND IN CHURCHES. 169 

it leave him in the attitude of prayer or of pug- 
nacity ? — imploring the Spirit to lead them into 
all truth, or looking angrily around for an an- 
tagonist? Did he from the first reflect whether 
or not he was called in the providence of God 
to enter on this particular course ? whether he 
could scripturally expect the Divine blessing 
on the act, and on his mode of pursuing it ? 
whether his leading incitement was personal 
reputation, a sanguine and irascible temper of 
mind, or the glory of God ? Was he actuated 
by a profound reverence for the truth ? And 
did he vindicate the lofty claims of the truth 
only in the spirit of truth ; avoiding all that is 
inaccurate and partial in statement ; unfair in 
argument ; unkind in animadversion ; contemp- 
tuous, and ungenerous in sentiment ; flippant, 
sarcastic, and unjust in expression ; and main- 
taining throughout a spirit of candor and im- 
partiality? Did he evince a due regard to the 
real extent of the differences in question ; not 
magnifying a microscopic point of outward ob- 
servance into a size which eclipsed the cross ; 
and which might lead one to infer that the 
neglecter of that point, and the blasphemer of 
that cross, were both on a level ? 

8. There are certain ecclesiastical solvents, 
or moral tests, which it is hardly possible to 
apply with any degree of fairness to the subject 
before us, without detecting the schismatical or 
party-spirit, in whatever proportions, or with 
whatever better combinations it may exist. 
The reader has occasionally heard of the use- 
fulness of the parties who stand more directly 
opposed to him ; usefulness of a kind which is 



170 



TESTS OF A SCIIISMATICAL SPfRIT 



likely to furnish subjects for joy among the 
angels of God, and of high praise in eternity ; 
— has he heard of it with grudging, spoken of 
it with depreciation, or been sullenly silent 
concerning it both before God and man ? We 
read of Barnabas, that " when he was come, 
and had seen the grace of God," he, in circum- 
stances far less favorable to gratitude, " was 
glad." And the only reasons assigned are, 
that " he was a good man, and full of the Holy 
Ghost." While, with a noble superiority to 
petty jealousies, and a supreme concern for the 
great cause of the Gospel, St. Paul writes, that 
though " some preach Christ even of envy and 
strife .... not sincerely, supposing to add afflic- 
tion to my bonds What then ? . . . . Christ 

is preached ; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and 
will rejoice." Now, can the reader satisfacto- 
rily account for the sullen silence of which we 
have spoken, as contrasted with this Christian 
magnanimity, except on the ground of party 
spirit? 

He may have heard also of certain disgraces 
which those parties may have sustained, in the 
persons of some of their members, or in the 
failure of some of their plans ; and, in such 
cases, the Scripture enjoins him to weep with 
those that weep, and to cast the large mantle 
of Christian charity over their imperfections. 
If, however, in opposition to these injunctions, 
the reader looked, if not exultingly, at least 
complacently, on their failures and defects — if, 
so far from spreading the mantle of charity 
over them at the time, he even now occasion- 
ally takes off the veil which the more lenient 



IN INDIVIDUALS AND IN CHURCHES. 171 

hand of time has thrown over them, and calls 
attention to them afresh — if, while he is blind 
to all the honors of their 'scutcheon, he is ever 
mindful of its blots — if he cares much less 
about the injury which the general cause of 
religion may sustain by his exhibition of their 
defects, than for the pleasure he seeks in their 
humiliation — hesitates little to wound religion, 
provided he can inflict the stab through their 
side — caa he scripturally account for this con- 
duct except on the principle of a factious 
spirit? 

9. While the reader very properly contends 
that there are doctrines which constitute the 
essence of Christianity; which characterise it 
as a system, and make it what it is ; and that 
all are capable of perceiving these doctrines, 
and bound to receive them ; he has no doubt 
also heard of those constitutional varieties of 
individual minds which naturally lead men to 
view the same object under different aspects — 
one, giving a preference to this outward modi- 
fication of religion, and another to that ; yet 
both agreeing in the reception of essential 
truth. Now, if he often wonders at the obtuse- 
ness, and animadverts on the perverseness, of 
those who thus differ from him in religion, 
without ever giving them the benefit of those 
obvious reflections ; if he never places himself, 
by a slight and very common effort of the im- 
agination, in their circumstances, nor asks him- 
self how much like them he should probably 
have been in their situation ; never makes al- 
lowances for the educational and other influ- 
ences through which they have passed ; or, 



172 TESTS OF A SCHISMATICAL SPIRIT 

making these reflections, feels no remission of 
his displeasure towards them, how can he ex- 
plain this inconsistency except by confessing 
to a bigoted spirit? 

10. The Bible enjoins, and no doubt the 
judgment of the reader assents to, the duty of 
prayer for all men. Perhaps he is ready to 
add that he performs this duty. But if there 
be a class of Christians for whom he could not 
easily bring himself to pray by name; if he 
only brings himself to comprehend them in his 
intercessions at all by concealing them (so to 
speak) among a multitude of other objects — by 
allowing them to pass under some term of 
vague generalisation — surely he does not de- 
ceive himself by supposing that he prays for 
them. 

Had the Jewish high-priest erased the name 
of one of the tribes from his breast-plate, and 
yet pleaded that he prayed for that tribe when 
he prayed for all Israel, could the mockery 
have passed ? And if the reader can thus carry 
a feeling of dislike towards those supposed into 
the presence of God — to the very throne of 
grace — if he can only advert to them there as 
if they were enemies — can pray specifically and 
cordially for unbelievers, while he is silent con- 
cerning them ; in what way can he account for 
his conduct except by ascribing it to a secta- 
rian spirit? 

11. The cause of God is one, and his Church 
one. Every believer has his appropriate place 
in that one Church : and every instance of use- 
fulness takes place in virtue of that one design 
of mercy. And you, reader, doubtless, profess 



IN INDIVIDUALS AND IN CHURCHES. 173 

to believe, whether formally or not, in the holy 
catholic church, and in the communion of saints. 
But if, instead of rising to the contemplation of 
this great whole, your habitual conception of 
the Church is confined to your own party — if 
when that is languishing you feel as if the 
entire kingdom of God were in a crisis, though, 
perhaps, every other section of the Church is 
flourishing — if by laboring in the vineyard, you 
mean laboring only in a party corner, and 
evince dislike at associating with the members 
of another party, even when the work to be 
done can be accomplished only by such associ- 
ation — in fine, if your best sympathies circu- 
late only among those of your own denomina- 
tion, how can you account for it or describe it, 
but as a sectarian spirit ? 

If, as the result of these hints for self- 
examination, the reader should begin to sus- 
pect that he is personally implicated in the 
subject, he will further evince his impartiality 
by considering the evils of schism. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 

Were men to be distributed according to 
the various opinions which they entertain con- 
cerning the moral nature of ecclesiastical divis- 
ions, they might be ranked in the following 
classes : — Those who look on every separation 
from themselves as schism, and who describe it 
in terms of labored exaggeration. — Those who, 
considering themselves unjustly condemned for 
separation, have, in the consciousness of their 
own comparative innocence, come to under- 
value the external unity of the Church, and to 
speak of its divisions in terms of comparative 
extenuation. — Those who, confining their atten- 
tion to the emulation and increased activity to 
which, by the overruling providence of God, 
some of those separations have led, have come 
to speak of division in terms of implied appro- 
bation. — And those who, taking their views 
from the word of God, regard those separations 
only as schism which violate the great law of 
Christian love ; and those only as schismatics 
who either give or unnecessarily take occasion 
of separation ; viewing the guilt of such divris- 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 175 

ions as depending on circumstances so various 
that God alone can determine its amount. But 
however different their estimate of schism, they 
all unite, in certain circumstances, in denounc- 
ing it as an evil. Only attempt to fasten the 
sin on those even who appear to hold it most 
Jightly, and the manner in which they writhe 
under the charge, betrays how odious it be- 
comes when turned into a personal imputation. 
In the same way, each party, in a time of 
angry division, has been eager to fasten the 
imputation on the other ; thus evincing the 
general sense of its demerit, by the advantage 
they hoped to gain in casting it at their op- 
ponents. 

" In dealing about this business among 
Christians," writes Owen in his treatise on 
schism, " the advantage hath been extremely 
hitherto on their part who found it their inter- 
est to begin the charge. For whereas them- 
selves perhaps were, and are of all men, most 
guilty of the crime, yet by their clamorous ac- 
cusation, putting others on the defence of them- 
selves, they have in a manner clearly escaped 
from the trial of their own guilt, and cast the 
issue of the question purely on them whom they 

have accused It is the manner of men of 

all persuasions who undertake to treat of schism, 
to make their entrance with invectives against 
the evils thereof, with aggravations of its hein- 
ousness. All men, whether intending the 
charge of others, or their own acquitment, es- 
teem themselves concerned to do so." 

But while schism is thus branded by univer- 
sal consent, and while parties have been ban- 
16 



176 THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 

dying the charge and criminating each other, 
anxious only on which the charge should finally 
settle, how insensible have they been to the 
fact that they were meanwhile familiarising 
themselves, in common, with the sin itself, 
drinking into its spirit, presenting to the world 
a spectacle of ridicule and reproach, and frus- 
trating the very ends for which a Church has 
been instituted, and for which Christianity is 
continued on earth. " For how many sad cen- 
turies of years," writes Howe, " hath Christian- 
ity been at an amazing stand ! .... Is this the 
religion which so early, by its own native light 
and power conquered so many nations, and which 
we expect to be the religion of the world ? . . . . 
For thirteen or fourteen hundred years hath the 
Church been gradually growing a multiform, 
mangled, shattered, and most deformed thing ; 
broken and parceled into nobody knows how 
many several sorts of communions. . . . Carnal- 
ity hath become, and long been in it, a govern- 
ing principle, and hath torn it into God knows 
how many fragments and parties : each of 
which will now be the Church, enclose itself 
within its own peculiar limits, claim and appro- 
priate to itself the rights and privileges which 
belong to the Christian Church in common, 
yea, and even Christ himself, as if he were to 
be so enclosed and confined : and hence it is 
said, Lo, here is Christ, or there he is, till he 
is scarce to be found any where ; but as, 
through merciful indulgence, overlooking our 
sinful follies, he is pleased to afford some tokens 
of his presence both here and there." 

In order that we may see and lament the 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 177 

wide-wasting evils of schism, we propose to 
consider the account given of them in the New 
Testament, together with the fearful effects 
which it is at this moment producing on Chris- 
tians individually, on the visible Church, and 
through these on the world at large. 

1. 1. In the closing scenes of the Jewish 
economy, we see how the jealous spirit of party 
turns neighboring temples into hostile fortresses, 
so that Zion and Gerizim stand frowning at 
each other ; and converts their respective wor- 
shippers into bitter foes, so that " the Jews 
have no dealings with the Samaritans. 5 ' It 
resents a slight constructive insult from an op- 
posing party in the Church, more than an 
avowed assault from the world, and " calls 
down fire from heaven to avenge it. It recog- 
nises no authority in the Church which is not 
countersigned with its own hand — will not al- 
low a demon to be cast out by one " who fol- 
lows not with us" — and in " haling to prison" 
those who venture to differ from it, " verily 
thinks that it is doing God service." 

2. A spirit of contention and division is, in 
effect a repeal of the whole evangelical law. 
In six of the epistles it is affirmed, that " love 
is the fulfilling of the law." The law of love 
to God and man, which was proclaimed from 
Sinai, has bee;i republished from Calvary, en- 
forced by more appropriate and powerful mo- 
tives, and constituted the grand practical char- 
acteristic of the Christian economy. But 
schism is the breach of Christian love, and con- 
sequently a violation of the whole Christian 
law. 



178 THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 

3. It appears to have been the first sin which 
disturbed the peace of the Christian Church, 
as such. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira 
had been destructive only to themselves. But 
it is the terrible distinction of this sin that, 
besides injuring its originators and immediate 
instruments, it tends to waste and destroy the 
community. Such was its tendency in the 
church at Antioch. Acts xv. 

4. It not only disturbed the peace, but 
threatened the existence of several of the apos- 
tolic churches. Hence, the immediate occa- 
sion of many of the inspired epistles ; and the 
deep, earnest, and even agonising solicitude 
which they express for the restoration of unity 
and peace. If believers constitute a living 
temple, this is the spirit which " defiles the 
temple of God ;" profaning the sanctity, and 
dimming the glory of the whole edifice. Well, 
therefore, may it be added concerning the author 
of such sacrilege, " him will God destroy." 

5. It displaced the great central doctrine of 
justification by faith, by fixing the attention on 
points of ceremonial observance. It led num- 
bers to moot " unlearned questions" and gen- 
der strifes," in the very presence of the cross ; 
as, in the third and fourth centuries, it induced 
men curiously to " anatomise the person of 
Christ," when they should have been prostrate 
before him in adoration. Hence, the chief ob- 
ject of some of the epistles was to recall the 
minds of those primarily addressed to that only 
ground of our acceptance with God — the medi- 
ation of Christ. Phil. iii. 1 — 8. 

6. The scriptural classification of this sin, 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 179 

illustrates its vile and aggravated nature, for it 
stands associated, both in its origin and tenden- 
cies, with many of the principal sins. 1 Cor. 
iii. ;3 ; 2 Cor. xii. 20; Gal. v. 15—21. Here, 
its origin is imputed to carnality, to the lusts of 
the flesh, to the predominance of the sinful and 
worldly over the renewed and spiritual part of 
our nature ; many of the baser passions are 
found in its company, either as its offspring or 
congenial associates ; and it is represented as 
degrading its victims, in some respects, below 
the mere level of humanity, into beasts of prey, 
who return bite for bite, and are " consumed 
one of another." *. 

7. It often amounts to a virtual usurpation 
of the throne of Christ, and of his highest pre- 
rogative as Lord of conscience. Rom. xiv. ; 
James iv. 11. According to these scriptures, 
among the highest rights which Christ has ac- 
quired by his sacrificial death, are those which 
relate to the conscience, so that to attempt to 
impose our appointments on the conscience of 
another, or to denounce him for not subordi- 
nating his conscience to ours, is to ascend the 
tribunal, displace the Saviour, put on the 
brightest of his many crowns, and tyrannise 
where he should reign — an invasion of his 
throne which he will not fail to resent. 

8. That such a spirit must be incompatible 
icith fellowship with God is evident, for " he 
that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, 
how can he love God whom he hath not seen ?" 
1 John ii. 9 — 11, and chapters iii. iv. It 
grieves, and repels from it " the Holy Spirit of 
God,' 5 Eph. iv. 30 — 32 ; and takes as its ap- 

16* 



180 THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 

propriate agents and associates, such as " cause 
divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine" 
of the cross. Rom. xvi. 17, 18 ; 1 Tim. vi. 
4, 5 ; Titus i. 10. 

9. It acts hypocritically, imposing an out- 
ward rite under a pretence that it is aiming 
solely at the honor of God and the good of 
men, declaring that without it " they cannot be 
saved. " Acts xv. 1. But at the same time 
throws off restraint, and indulges itself in the 
violated name of Christian liberty, and at the 
costly price of a wounded conscience in a 
weaker brother. Rom. xiv. 13, 15, 20, 21. 

10. Among the recorded acts of the schis- 
matical spirit are, indecorum in the public wor- 
ship of God, 1 Cor. xi. 18 ; the formation of 
factions among the worshippers, 1 Cor. iii. 4 ; 
the reckless profanation of the Lord's supper, 
1 Cor. xi. 20 — 22 ; and the consequent rending 
of the body of Christ. Chap. xii. Thus, in 
the extremity of its rage, it forbears nothing, 
however sacred, and is awed by nothing, how- 
ever dreadful. Gratified it will and must be, 
though Christ should be present, and his table 
be the scene of profanation. Accompanied by 
all the malevolent passions — a flock of harpies 
and vultures — it fiercely descends upon the 
sacred feast, pollutes and preys on consecrated 
things, lacerating even " the members of his 
body, of his flesh, and of his bones." 

11. Bent on the gratification of its ravenous 
appetite, it hesitates not to " destroy with its 
meat one for whom Christ died," Rom. xiv. 15 
— to devour immortal souls. But well may our 
surprise at its enormities cease, when we learn, 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 181 

Rom. xvi. 18 — 20, that Satan, the author of 
sin and prime disturber of the uniyerse, is the 
parent of schism in the Church. Entering the 
sacred enclosure — the paradise of the new cre- 
ation — he early sowed the seeds of dissension, 
and effected " another fall of man." Aware 
that the conversion of the world is suspended 
on the unity of the Church, he leaves no means 
untried, and no agency unemployed, which is 
likely, by embroiling the Church, to frustrate 
its design, and to prolong his possession of the 
world. While, by the same means, the Church 
has often been rendered an easy conquest to 
the world : and, short of this, has furnished it 
with sport, and even awakened emotions min- 
gled with pity and contempt. 

But though schism was included in that mys- 
tery of iniquity, of which the apostles, even in 
their day, could say, it " doth already work ;" it 
was reserved for subsequent times to behold the 
great engine of evil in full operation. Some, 
even then, were " doting about questions" — 
sick with them — exhibiting symptoms of the 
wrangling disease ;* but it remained for recent 
times for a man to write — and to acquire im- 
mortality by the sentence — " the itch of dis- 
puting has become the disease of the Church."f 

II. 1. As to the professor of Christianity, 
the evil in question operates to his personal in- 
jury in various ways. " Upon the religious 



* Bishop Wilkins's Sermons. 

t The well known epitaph of Sir H. Wotton in the 
college at Eton — " Hie jacet primus hujus sententise 
auctor — Disputandi pruritus jit ecclesice scabies." 



182 THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 

intellect, sectarian feelings and fellowship," says 
Dr. Mason, " produce an effect analogous to 
that of the division of labor upon mechanical 
ingenuity. By concentrating its operations in 
a few points, or perhaps in a single one, they 
render it peculiarly acute and discriminating 
within those limits, at the expense of enfeebling 
or destroying its general power. Conversations 
are cherished, books are read, time expended, 
faculties employed, not for the purpose of ac- 
quiring larger views of the Redeemer's truth, 
grace, kingdom, and glory ; but for the purpose 
of training more accurate disputants upon the 
heads of sectarian collision. Here men distin- 
guish themselves ; here they shine ; here they 
gratify their vanity, which they often mistake 
for conscience With one the watch- 
word is, oar excellent, our apostolical Church — 
with another, the doctrine of baptism — with a 
third, the solemn league and covenant — with a 
fourth, the divine right of presbytery — with a 
fifth, the unparalleled constitution of Methodism 
— with a sixth, the scriptural Church order of 
the Independents." 

2. " Nor does the practical judgment suffer 
less than the religious intellect. This is clearly 
seen in the estimate which animated sectarians 
form of character. The good qualities of their 
own adherent they readily perceive, admire, 
and extol ; his failings they endure with pa- 
tience; and his faults, which they dare not 
justify, they can overlook and extenuate. But 
should he quit their connexion, the first are 
disparaged, the second are no longer tolerable, 
and the third swell into crimes. On the other 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 183 

hand, virtues and graces in a different party, 
they are apt to admit with reluctance, and 

rarely without qualification But lo 1 

all is altered I Our breasts fill with 

the milk of human kindness ; and we welcome 
to our hearts the very man whom a week be- 
fore we eyed askaunt, and should have thought 
to have been a spot in our feast of charity. 
Nay, we often are summarily convinced, that a 
person of dubious character has been injured 
and persecuted. Our inquiries are conducted 
with the nicest delicacy. So gentle our tem- 
per ! so charitable our construction ! so large 
an allowance for infirmity ! so deep our sym- 
pathy 1 Whence the miracle ? Has a seraph, 
with fire from the altar of God, touched these 
men of unclean lips, and taken away the stains 
which alarmed our purity ? Oh no ! they are 
precisely what they were. Wherefore, then, 
this change in eyesight, in feelings, in behav- 
iour ? Simple inquirer, thou knowest nothing 
of party magic! They have come, or are 
coming, or are expected to come, over to us." 
3. The necessary effect of the two preceding 
evils is to impair our piety. The appointed 
channel in which religion flows is, through the 
understanding, to the heart. And hence it has 
often occurred that men in finding religion, 
have found a mind. But while piety, by bring- 
ing them into the presence of great and en- 
nobling objects, has enlarged and exalted the 
little mind, the sectarian spirit, by detaining 
men chiefly among trifles, tends to dwarf and 
shrivel the most expansive intellect — to reduce 
it to the dimensions of the object on which it 



184 THE GL T ILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 

settles, a point. And thus, it not only con- 
tracts the understanding, and prevents the full 
flow of religious influence to the heart ; it actu- 
ally degrades and devotes the understanding to 
other and inferior purposes, so that the heart is 
left in an unwatered, barren, withered state. 
When the worshipper should be looking grate- 
fully and complacently over the assembled 
church, he is prying about curiously for the 
marked members of his own sect, and thinks 
the temple empty because they are so few. 
And when he should be within, lost in the radi- 
ance of the Holiest of all, he is to be found 
without, in some dim and distant corner of the 
building, angrily disputing with a fellow- 
worshipper about the most approved attitude 
of devotion. 

4. Nor can this injury be inflicted on his 
piety without proportionally diminishing his en- 
joyment. The blessed God has so laid his vast 
and gracious plans that he can be enjoyed fully 
only in communion ; and hence the consum- 
mation of spiritual happiness is reserved for 
the complete assembly of heaven. It follows, 
however, that the nearer the Church approaches 
at present to that final and full communion, the 
nearer it will approach to that final and full en- 
joyment. But to this consummation the spirit 
of party presents an insuperable obstacle. By 
dividing the Church into unfriendly sections, it 
divides its joys and multiplies its sorrows. In- 
stead of rejoiciug in the prosperity of the whole 
Church, its victim can rejoice heartily only in 
the success of his own party. His God is, 
properly speaking, not the God of the whole 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. ] 85 

Church, but only the patron of a party. And 
when, like the great Intercessor above, he 
might be enjoying the godlike satisfaction of 
taking the interests of the whole Church into 
the presence of God, his breastplate contains 
the name of only one of the tribes — he is only 
the advocate of a party. 

5. From this it follows that a spirit of divis- 
ion tends to destroy " a sense of our common 
interests." Although Christ, as " the head of 
his body the Church, " designs the health and 
growth of the whole, the hand is unnaturally 
pleased at arresting and appropriating the nour- 
ishment which belongs to the foot, and the 
right side congratulates itself at the paralysis of 
the left, as promising it a monopoly of the cir- 
culating life. My church, your church, their 
church, are phrases so prevalent, that His uni- 
versal Church, which comprehends them all, is 
comparatively forgotten.* No united prayers, 
no joint endeavors are made for a common 
good. Less pecuniary assistance is rendered, 
by the wealthy Christian, to religious objects 
coming from different parties, than as if they 
all belonged to his own party. And even com- 
placency is felt at accessions to his own sect, 
though obtained at the expense of all the rest; 
forgetting that the injury of one member is the 
injury of the whole body. 

6. Losing sight of the common interests of 
the Christian Church, each party appoints terms 
of communion with itself which disparage and 

:i What entitles a man to membership in the Church 
of Christ ? Ed. 



186 THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 

virtually repeal the bond of scriptural union.i 
It is not enough that a man exercise " repent- 
ance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus 
Christ" — if he would obtain admission into a 
party church, he must pronounce the Shibbo- 
leth of its members. In addition to being a 
Christian, he must swear himself sectarian. A 
series of very slight changes in his creed will 
drive him in quick succession from communion 
with many an Independent church to a Metho- 
dist — from a Methodist to a Baptist — from a 
Baptist to the Episcopalian — from the Episco- 
palian to the Presbyterian, or back again to the 
Independents. His piety, meantime, stands 
him in no stead with either. Piety is profess- 
edly in nearly equal request with all ; but the 
piety of the Bible — the " fine linen white and 
clean which is the righteousness of the saints" 
is as nothing, till it is dyed in the party-color 
of the sect. 

7. Another consequence resulting from the 
same cause is, that the brotherly love which 
ought to subsist between- the churches of Christ 
is made impossible, and a masked affection of 
charity passes in its stead. It would be a self- 
contradiction for children of the same parent to 
profess that they cherish a very tender affection 
for each other, and yet refuse to sit at the same 
table, or to exchange the mutual expressions of 
fraternal love. And equally absurd and hypo- 
critical is it for the members of different 
churches to pretend that their attachment to 
real Christians of whatever name is sincere, 

t What 19 " the bond of acriptural union ?" Ed. 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM 187 

and yet withhold from them the obvious and 
natural evidences of love. They mistake world- 
ly politeness for the sanciified ardor of Christian 
love. Instead of cordially welcoming them to 
the table of the Lord/* and to the intimacies of 
Christian-fellowship, they content themselves 
with the bare avoidance of rudeness, and say, 
" Depart in peace." Instead of pouring in oil 
and wine into their smarting wounds, they con- 
sider it praiseworthy forbearance that they do 
not inflict an additional stab, and " pass by on 
the other side." How cutting the sarcasm 
which should now say, " See how these Chris- 
tians love," when they have only just religion 
enough to hate ; when they call on Christians 
to come out from their fellow-christians and to 
come over to themselves, as loudly as they call 
on the irreligious to come out from the world 
and be separate ; when they rejoice in an in- 
stance of proselytism more than in a conver- 
sion ; when the sect of the schismatical, in- 
cluding members of all churches, is the most 
active, numerous, and extending sect of the 
day ; and when a scant and gauzy affectation 
of charity is supposed to be an adequate substi- 
tute for the warm and ample robe of Christian 
love. 

8. The sectarian spirit, so far from extin- 
guishing existing differences of religious senti- 
ment, tends to magnify them, and to create 

* How much would be gained to the cause of Chris- 
tian union, by welcoming to the table of the Lord such 
as we believe are not scripturally qualified for the privi- 
lege ? Ed. 

17 



188 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 



others. It is in the nature of things, that those 
who differ from each other, and who have pro- 
claimed that difference to the world by taking 
their stand in separate parties, should be anx- 
ious to justify their respective grounds of differ- 
ence. But by shutting themselves up in sepa- 
rate enclosures, they deprive themselves of the 
opportunity, and even lose the desire, of mu- 
tual explanation ; and by shutting others out, 
they prejudice them against their peculiar sen- 
timents even though founded in truth. " The 
wall of separation is continually strengthened, 
each party fortifying it on his own side. 11 Their 
pride is engaged to maintain their respective 
opinions ; for, having avowed them, their sur- 
render would be deemed a surrender of honor. 
The Bible itself is made a partisan ; ground 
for new discrepancies are there fancied or des- 
cried ; and, consequently, additional reasons 
for receding a step farther off. New subjects 
of contention arise ; new antagonists rush to 
the conflict ; new materials for continuing and 
extending the war are collected ; and each 
party would fain enforce the law of Solon, com- 
pelling every one to range under one or other 
of the contending banners, till the whole Church 
should be embroiled. 

9. Wherever the spirit of party is seen, we 
may feel assured that the spirit of calumny is 
not far distant. How rare the Christian mag- 
nanimity of largely and liberally praising even 
the excellences belonging to another party ! 
How few the men of any denomination who 
might safely be left to state the cause of those 
who differ from them ! or be intrusted with 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 189 

their rights ! How large the sect of slander- 
ers ! — of men who listen with an evident satis- 
faction to a detail of the errors and imperfec- 
tions of their opponents ; who seize their inad- 
vertencies with avidity, and fasten on the blem- 
ishes of even a single individual to asperse the 
character of a whole denomination : who re- 
quire ten witnesses to a testimony advantageous 
to their opponents, but who wait not for two 
when the testimony is adverse ; and who violate 
the ninth commandment with little hesitation, 
provided the neighbor witnessed against belong 
to another party. " Credulity," it is said, " is 
the magnet of lies ;"* and such magnets are to 
be found in every party, attracting and treasur- 
ing up the flying slanders reported of other 
parties, making them the staple of their con- 
versation, and thus constituting themselves the 
accusers of the brethren. 

10. The fear of misrepresentation thus pro- 
duced, is highly unfavorable to the removal 
of denominational evils, arid to any ecclesias- 
tical improvements. Each party is afraid to 
advert to its own defects, lest they should be 
magnified and turned by their opponents into a 
song of triumph ; still less can it think of 
adopting a single excellence, however self- 
recommending, from their system. The con- 
sequence is, that it carries about with it a con- 
sciousness of its defects in silence ; or, if one 
of its members courageously points them out 
with a view to amendment, he is regarded as 
an enemy in the camp ; and others of his party, 

* Magnes mendacii credulitas. 



190 THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 

perhaps, will not only denounce him for the 
exposure, but will laud the very evils com- 
plained of, and labor to embalm them in elo- 
quence, and to perpetuate them as excellences. 
11. The unfriendly divisions which exist 
among Christians greatly dishonor Christianity 
in the eyes of the world. As long as Chris- 
tians contended only with real foes without the 
Church, their ranks were compact, and their 
number and strength went on increasing. But 
from the moment they began to contend with 
fancied foes within, their conquests ceased, and 
the day of their weakness began. All histo- 
rians who have adverted to the subject, are 
unanimous in representing the endless schisms 
which divided and sub-divided the once flourish- 
ing churches of the East, as having prepared 
the way for Mohammedanism, filled its ranks, 
and even invited its march over their ruins. 
Equally certain is it that the contentions of our 
Reformers retarded the progress, and enfeebled 
the spirit, of the Reformation ; so that some of 
the advocates returned to the Church of Rome, 
and others retired and wept in secret. And 
who does not know that our divisions are the 
disgrace of Protestantism in the eyes of the 
Romanist, and tend to rivet the fetters of his 
superstition? One of his published "reasons 
why he cannot conform to the Protestant re- 
ligion 1 ' is, because " it is not one — the different 
branches of the pretended reformation are divi- 
ded from one another in faith and commun- 
ion."* True it is, indeed, that the Romish 

* Reasons, &c, published by Keating and Brown. 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 191 

church itself is essentially divided on a variety 
of points both of doctrine and discipline; that 
its boasted unity is merely artificial and me- 
chanical — the unanimity of the deaf concern- 
ing sounds, or of the blind concerning colors. 
But this does not release the sectarian Protes- 
tant from the guilt of perpetuating those divis- 
ions by which the unreasoning Papist is flat- 
tered into a preference for his own system of 
errors. Who does not know that numbers 
have been proselyted to Popery owing to our 
divisions. " Thousands," says Baxter, " have 
been drawn to Popery by this argument already, 
or confirmed in it. And I am persuaded that 
all the arguments in Bellarmine, and all their 
other treatises, have not been so effectual to 
make Papists here, as the multitude of sects 
among ourselves." And who is not aware that 
infidelity itself derives its choicest weapons 
from the divisions existing in the Christian 
Church ? One of the two reasons assigned for 
the apostacy of Julian is, that when he saw the 
dissensions of the Christians, and their rancor 
against each other, he took refuge from their 
broils in the quiet of Paganism. " Our contro- 
versies about religion," says Stillingfleet, " have 
brought at last even religion itself into a con- 
troversy." True it is again, that the plea 
which infidelity derives from this source, is too 
evidently sophistical for any but a depraved 
heart, to employ. Still, this does not discharge 
us from the guilt of furnishing the sceptic with 
weapons, however impotent, with which he 
seeks to maintain his position of hostility against 

17* 



192 THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 

And what is the result of these disgraceful 
and wasting divisions? — that Mohammedanism, 
Popery, and irreligion still divide the civilised 
world between them — that reformed Christian- 
ity finds, on numbering her followers, that she 
still stands in a most insignificant minority — 
and, worse still, that (like the two contending 
armies which knew nothing of the earthquake 
that had threatened to ingulf them both during 
the conflict) they are so engrossed with their 
internal quarrels, that they are still compara- 
tively insensible to their conseqnent weakness, 
and to the disgrace they are inflicting on relig- 
ion in the eyes of the world. Shame, shame 
on the Church ! and alas, for the perishing 
world ! 

12. Our divisions are essentially ruinous to 
the souls of men. The ways in which they 
operate to this dreadful effect are various. One 
of these may be inferred from the preceding 
paragraph — they tend to confirm the irreligious 
in their impiety. These men, say they, do not 
admit the possibility of mistake on any of the 
points about which they contend. They affirm 
that every thing is as clear as the light of noon. 
The probability is, therefore, that they are all 
fighting in the dark. At all events, we are 
content to wait till the articles of peace are set- 
tled between them ; for were we to join either 
of the parties at present, all the others would 
pronounce us wrong; and wrong we can only 
be by remaining as we are. Thus they reason, 
and — are lost. Our dissensions prove serious 
impediments to the sincere inquirer after the 
truth. " I have found in my own conversa- 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 193 

tion," says Howe, " that some even in distress, 
in agonies, have said, • Lord, be merciful to 
us ; I know not which way to go ; one preaches 
one thing, another preaches quite the contrary/ 
I know they mistake. We do generally, in 

substance, preach the same Gospel 

But in the meantime it is a thing of very ill- 
consequence to lay stumbling-blocks before the 
blind ; bars and obstructions in the way of the 
weak and the lame, whereby they may be turned 
out of the way who should rather be strength- 
ened." Besides which the sectarian spirit 
passes with numbers for the religious spirit, 
and is their substitute for true piety. " Have 
you never known such a case, when it might 
be said — There goes a proud, ambitious man, 
a false man, a malicious man ; but a man of 
great zeal for his church ? This atones for all 
his crimes ; and both quiets his conscience, 
and salves his credit together. And who can 
doubt but this man must be very fond of his 
own opinions, and zealously contend and dis- 
pute for them upon any occasion, when they 
are to do him so great service, and to stand 
him in so much stead — to supply the room for 
him of all religion and morality V Men of this 
class are the Crusaders of the Church ; who 
mistake the polemics of their party for the doc- 
trines of salvation ; who regard a chivalrous 
contention for a creed, as a good equivalent 
for believing it; and whose confidence of their 
spiritual security it would be all but impossible 
to shake, since they are conscious of a readi- 
ness to fight, if necessary, in defence of religion 
— the religion of their party. " Oh ! how 



194 THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 

many millions of souls, " exclaims Baxter, " are 
kept in ignorance and ungodliness, and deluded 
by faction, as if it were true religion /." As if 
the obstacles to the salvation of men were not 
sufficiently great without, we thus multiply the 
difficulties of some by our dissensions, and con- 
firm the fatal delusions of others. We, who 
are appointed instrumentally to save them, be- 
come the accessaries to, and occasions of, their 
destruction. 

13. But besides the evils we have enumera- 
ted, and which have always been flowing from 
the divided Church, its growing activity of late, 
as an agent of good to the world, has brought 
to light other evils of a most alarming charac- 
ter. The wounds which it exhibited in a com- 
paratively quiescent state, become increasingly 
felt and inflamed by every effort which it makes 
to move. In consequence of its divisions, the 
cause of national education and religious im- 
provement is impeded and impaired. The peo- 
ple generally ask for knowledge ; the govern- 
ment is willing to respond to the request ; but 
the professed friends of education are divided 
through the fear that each party will pervert 
and employ it as a power for its own purposes. 
The principle of universal instruction is car- 
ried ; but who shall settle the practice ? The 
question of questions has become a party ques- 
tion ; that which might prove a national bless- 
ing is perverted into a national curse ; and the 
heritage we are bequeathing to posterity is " a 
heritage of dissension. The time for concilia- 
tion is childhood ; but it appears that we pre- 
fer to arm posterity for the contest, rather than 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 195 

to do away with the necessity of contending at 
all. Surely this has neither the foresight of 
sound policy, nor the benevolence of philan- 
thropy. The dictates of such would say, * We 
are brothers, we are brothers ; let us not sow 
the seeds of internal discord from generation to 
generation. Let us cease to split straws ; at 
least, let us not use them for fuel to light up 
the fires of perpetual contention for our chil- 
dren's children.' "* 

Obstacles, often insurmountable, present 
themselves from the same quarter, to the efforts 
which are made to enlighten and evangelise 
our adult population. This is especially the 
case in our smaller towns and rural districts. 
He who knows any thing of their moral statis- 
tics is aware that, in such places, many a circle 
might be drawn, including from five hundred 
to five or six thousand souls, comparatively 
abandoned to the ignorance of baptised heath- 
enism. Here, it might be supposed, a Chris- 
tian agent would only have to come and labor 
from one part of the Church, in order to 
secure the encouraging " God speed" of every 
other part. Not so, however. Often does it 
happen that he no sooner attempts to enlighten 
this darkness than lie finds himself resisted — 
not merely by the demons of ignorance and 
vice, but by a demon more hazardous to en- 
counter and difficult to allay — the spirit of 
religious party. He is soon made to feel that 
he is treading enchanted ground, and has in- 
curred the unappeasable displeasure of its 

" Literary Gazette. 



196 THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 

guardian spirit. Prejudice misunderstands his 
object, and construes the impulse of his com- 
passion into a crime ; authority frowns on him ; 
and impiety, secretly encouraged, will not un- 
frequently threaten him with personal violence. 
If he persevere, it is only by maintaining the 
spirit of an ancient martyr ; but numerons are 
the instances in which the prospect of encoun- 
tering so much hostility, effectually deters the 
philanthropist from making the attempt; or in 
which, having made it, he retires disheartened 
and defeated by those at whose hands he was 
entitled to look for benediction and aid. Mean- 
while, the " people are destroyed through lack 
of knowledge." 

14. And — to conclude this long catalogue of 
evils arising from our divisions — they enfeeble 
and endanger our missionary operations, and 
delay the conversion of the ivorld. They do 
this, partly, by dividing our limited instru- 
mentality. One church abounds more in the 
zeal which burns for active exertion, and 
another in the wisdom which is profitable to 
direct ; in which case co-operation would be 
strength, but isolation is weakness and folly. 
One society calls aloud for agents, and pledges 
itself to raise the funds for their support : while 
another proclaims that it has agents ready, if it 
did but possess means for sending them forth. 
Here, sympathy with each other's wants, by 
uniting their respective means, would happily 
supply them both ; while a spirit of division is 
making that which is already little, still less. 
The combined resources of the whole Church 
would be only adequate to its work ; but, as if 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 197 

we possessed them in superfluous abundance, 
we so effectually reduce them by our divisions, 
that their insignificance tempts opposition, and 
not unfrequently incurs defeat. 

Not only do our dissensions divide and weak- 
en our missionary resources at home, they also 
tend to counteract their influence abroad. It 
is in vain to say that but little disagreement 
exists as yet among our Christian missionaries 
abroad ; the seeds of discord only ask for time, 
and they will not fail to bear their proper fruit. 
It is in vain to say that good is done notwith- 
standing our disunion ; the partial good which 
is effected abroad, is effected by merging the 
disputes of home — in fact, by uniting, or by 
pretending to a degree of fraternity which the 
relative state of parties at home will not justify. 
And would not a knowledge of our differences 
there be fatal to our usefulness ? Would it not 
shake the confidence of the religious noviciate 
there ; and embroil the churches ; and cover 
the breast of the idolater with an additional 
coat of resistance to the arrows of the Lord ; 
and arm the Brahmin, the sceptic, and every 
hostile hand, with a new weapon of attack ? 
To expect that a divided Church should be 
honored by God in the conversion of the world, 
is to expect that the prayer of Christ will be 
frustrated in pure indulgence to our perverse- 
ness. Having implored the unity of his disci- 
ples as essential to the final success of his Gos- 
pel, we cannot expect the end independent of 
the means, without impugning his wisdom, and 
hoping that his prayer may be forgotten. To 
indulge in a spirit of dissension is to counter- 



198 THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 

act the object of our own intercessions. For, 
if we pray that the will of God may be done on 
earth as it is in heaven, we are to remember 
that it is obeyed there unanimously and harmo- 
niously, as well as universally ; so that we are 
virtually requesting that it may not be done by 
us, or, at least, in our present divided state, but 
at some indefinitely distant time, when all the 
wounds of the Church shall be healed. Be- 
sides which, we are to remember, that the unity 
of the Church is not merely a scripture doc- 
trine, its practical and visible exhibition is evi- 
dently intended to be the grand means for the 
conversion of the world, and a leading design 
of the Christian dispensation. By our divisions, 
therefore, we are either intentionally counteract- 
ing the plans of God, or else they evince an ex- 
pectation that, in homage to our importance, 
he will repeal his own well-ordered designs, 
put extraordinary honor on those who love their 
own particular opinions in preference to his 
commands, and publish himself to the world as 
the Patron of variance and divisions among his 
people. 

And more than all, our dissensions impede 
the usefulness of the Church and delay the 
conversion of the world, by grieving the Holy 
Spirit of God. Were any particular section 
of the Church to proclaim its independence of 
Divine influence, it would be denounced as 
heterodox by the common consent of Chris- 
tendom. And yet, the necessity of such influ- 
ence is not insisted on in Scripture more clearly 
or frequently, than the necessity of Christian 
union in order to the full impartation of that 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 199 

influence. So that to expect religious prosper- 
ity without the aid of the Spirit, and to expect 
that aid in a divided Church, are two expecta- 
tions equally unscriptural and profane. Had 
the morning of the day of Pentecost found the 
disciples assembled in strife or split into fac- 
tions, can we imagine that the Divine Spirit 
would have filled with his presence a house 
already filled with another spirit, an antagonist 
spirit of malevolence ? — or that he would have 
even approached the contentious scene ? Some- 
thing quicker and stronger than reasoning — an 
instinctive conviction — tells us that he would 
not. What is the change, then, which we sup- 
pose him to have since undergone — or what the 
peculiar grounds which lead us to expect — that 
he should mingle with our strifes, and counte- 
nance our schisms ? He is still the Spirit of 
peace, and can he approve of our wars? He is 
still the Spirit of love — and can he dwell amidst 
elements of anger and hostility ? Or, as the 
Spirit of union — can he consistently put mark- 
ed honor on the instrumentality of a church, 
which seems to have prescribed to itself, as the 
great condition of its moving, that it will move 
only in parties, and work only in factions ? 
Indeed, it is well worthy the consideration of 
the Christian Church, whether it is not occu- 
pying, at this moment, a position of infatuation 
and guilt in relation to the promised Spirit, 
similar to that of the ancient Jewish church in 
relation to the promised Messiah — whether it is 
not equally true of each, that " he came to his 
own, and his own received him not." 

Now, if the preceding be a correct represen- 
18 



200 THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 

tation of the evils of schism, it would appear 
that as the design of God is to erect a spiritual 
temple from the ruins of the fall, so the object 
of the demon Schism is to mar that work in 
every step of its progress, and to reduce it 
again to its original chaos. Taking possession 
of the individual Christian, it so incorporates 
with his system, and transforms him into its 
own nature, that he is no longer himself; his 
judgments are so impaired that, however ra- 
tional on other subjects, the Divine image it- 
self, unless seen in one particular light, is 
shunned as if it resembled the likeness of an 
enemy ; the strongest ties of Christian and 
natural relationship are burst asunder like the 
bands of the demoniac among the tombs ; com- 
munion with his party is mistaken for commun- 
ion with the Deity ; and even the Great God 
himself is circumscribed within narrow limits, 
and worshipped only as the God of a faction. 
Impatient to commence its work of ruin, the 
spirit of schism waited not for the gradual 
process of worldliness to sap the piety of the 
Church, but bursting into the temple while yet 
the apostles were personally conducting the 
worship, it broke in pieces the tables of the 
law of love as impediments to all its subsequent 
designs, and threw down the cross in favor of 
an outward and superannuated rite. Calling to 
its aid " variance, wrath, strife, seditions, 
heresies/' it divided the assembled worship- 
pers into angry factions ; gave to each a party 
standard and an inflammatory watchword ; and 
changed the peaceful Church into a hostile 
camp. Forcing its way even to the table of 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 201 

the Lord, it laid unhallowed hands on the 
sacred feast, turned the cup of blessing into 
a curse, and planted a symbol of strife in the 
very place of the cross. Clothed in the garb 
of a pretended zeal for the truth, and filling 
its hands with manacles and chains, it entered 
the thrice-holy place where God and con- 
science alone should meet, dared to ascend 
the throne where God alone should sit, and 
summoning into its presence all who denied 
or even doubted its authority, loaded them with 
fetters in the name of the God of liberty and 
love. In vain did its victims protest and 
plead, and appeal in bitterness of soul from 
earth to Heaven — the Demon heard not their 
cries, saw not their tears ; and if it had, 
what were weak consciences to it? wounded 
consciences, or even ruined souls, to it 1 — 
a thousand fold more terrible than Moloch or 
the fabled Minotaur, it found music in groans, 
and, feasting on blood, ravenously devoured 
" him with its meat for whom Christ died." 

Disdaining the ruin of only a single Chris- 
tian, or a particular church, its aim is to 
embroil and destroy the whole Christian com- 
munity. Times have been when all the armed 
powers of the earth were fighting in its pay, 
and all the engines of torture active in its 
service. Not satisfied with such limited and 
ordinary aids, it has devised improved methods 
of inflicting suffering, and furnished the world 
with hints of cruelty. While its desolating 
march through Christendom might be easily 
traced, by the light of the martyr-fires which 



202 THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM*. 

its own hands have kindled ; by the cries of 
the sufferers left prostrate in its rear ; by the 
ruins of Christian temples which it rased to 
the ground, and by the prisons and inquisitions 
which those ruins enabled it to erect in their 
stead. 

If, in the present day, the spirit of schism 
is less conversant than formerly with the 
grosser forms of persecution, it is not owing 
to any change in its nature ; its operations 
are as active, extensive, and fearful in their 
effects as ever. Though perpetually convicted 
of error, it cannot think of speaking in less 
than a tone of infallibility, or of requiring less 
than implicit deference to its oracular strains. 
As if penal measures had invariably succeeded 
instead of invariably failed, it is as sanguine 
as ever that they would secure submission to 
its will. In its service slander prepares the 
subtlest poison ; breathes a suspicion on acts 
over which all heaven is rejoicing ; makes it 
a virtue to hate men whom it should be a 
happiness to love ; and, by perverse misappli- 
cations of Scripture, converts even the sword 
of the Spirit into an assassin's dagger. As 
if it were a sworn agent of the powers of 
darkness, and were actually experimenting on 
the infinite divisibility of the Church, it con- 
tinues absorbed in punctilios, and insisting on 
comparative trifles; heedless, meantime, of the 
cries of the souls it is ruining, of the laugh 
of the world it is amusing, of the remonstran- 
ces of the Heaven it is offending ; regard- 
less, that among the most obvious consequen- 



THE GUILT AND EVILS OF SCHISM. 203 

ces of its conduct are, the grieved Spirit of 
God retiring from it to the greatest possible 
distance compatible with the continued ex- 
istence of the Church — the infliction of fresh 
wounds on the body of Christ — the prolonga- 
tion of the reign of Antichrist — and the post- 
ponement of millennial triumphs. 



18* 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE PLEAS AND DISGUISES OF SCHISM. 

The evils of schism are so obvious and fear- 
ful, that we might well believe it impossible for 
a word to be uttered in palliation, did not facts 
affirm the contrary ; and did we not know that 
no single evil has ever been obliterated from 
the long catalogue which sin has produced, 
through the want of a defence. An evil, in- 
deed, is generally defended, not in its own 
naked and proper character, but by assuming 
the mask and name of a virtue; but the pleas 
and disguises of schism are so transparent and 
obvious, that we might well wonder how any 
one could ever be beguiled by them, and still 
more that he should expect others to allow 
them to pass for valid reasons. 

I. If, for instance, in order to expose the 
evils of schism, we place them in contrast with 
the unity of the primitive Church — when 
church-communion was catholic-communion — 
it is sometimes objected, that " circumstances, 
since then, have materially altered ; that many 
things which were easy at first, are impracti- 
cable now ; and that, although prior to the 



THE PLEAS AND DISGUISES OF SCHISM. 205 

existence of divisions, it might have been the 
duty of Christians to avoid them, yet to return 
from them now is impossible." Such are the 
pleas and excuses of an ignorant and inconsid- 
erate sloth. 

According to this representation, the waters 
of the sanctuary, like another Euphrates, have 
only to separate, to wear for themselves new 
channels, or to stagnate into pools, reducing 
the Church to the desolation of another Baby- 
lon, and, from that moment, it ceases to be the 
duty of Christians to attempt to unite them 
again — to restore the Church to its primitive 
prosperity. Sin has only to wait till it can 
plead antiquity, in order to establish its title to 
undisturbed dominion. The task of reforma- 
tion has only to become difficult in order to 
cease to be obligatory. It is true, there existed 
in the primitive Church causes of separation 
much more weighty than many of those which 
have since led to division, and yet no separation 
took place ; and that example was no doubt 
meant to be binding on the Church in all sub- 
sequent times ; but, it was only necessary to 
depart from it, in order to annul its authority. 
It is true, also, that the command of Christ re- 
quires union ; but only as long as such union is 
perfectly convenient ; as soon as ever it be- 
comes difficult to continue, or to restore it, he 
permits us to be as divided as we please. 

The startling inconsistency of this language, 
and the profanity of the sentiments which it 
implies, are evident. And yet, unless the ob- 
jector is prepared to avow them at the tribunal 
of God, we would adjure him to examine wheth- 



206 THE PLEAS AND DISGUISES OF SCHISM. 

er they are not fairly involved in the excuses 
on which he is disposed to rely. 

If. " But the word of God declares that 
unanimity of sentiment is essential to union ; 
in the absence of such unanimity, therefore, 
union would be hypocrisy, and divisions are in- 
evitable." This excuse for schism might be 
entertained if the union which the Scriptures 
enjoin demanded perfect identity of religious 
opinion. But that such is not the nature of the 
unanimity they require, has already been made 
sufficiently apparent.* The oneness of senti- 
ment which they inculcate, relates only to those 
articles of faith which are essential to unite us 
to Christ ; if they insist on any agreement be- 
yond this, it is agreement of affection. " Be 
perfectly joined together," says the apostle,f 
" in the same mind and in the same judgment" 
— or, as the word is elsewhere translated, J^r- 
pose — a passage which is often quoted to prove 
that entire identity of religious opinion is essen- 
tial to Christian-fellowship. A reference to 
page 94 will show, however, that the unanimity 
enjoined related not to " opinions," but to 
" leaders." So that, rightly understood, it im- 
plies that, notwithstanding their circumstantial 
differences, the Christians addressed should yet 
be one in heart. 

Apostolical practice illustrated apostolical 
teaching : that the unanimity, therefore, which 
the apostles inculcated as necessary to Chris- 
tian-fellowship is such as we have described, is 
evident from the fact, that minor differences of 

* See chap. ii. t 1 Cor. i. 10. X Acts xx. 3. 



THE PLEAS AND DISGUISES OF SCHISM. 207 

opinion were actually permitted by them in the 
churches which they planted and watched over.* 
For well they knew that such differences were 
inevitable to humanity in its present probation- 
ary state ; that where piety flourishes they will 
not impede the free circulation of Christian 
love; and that, even if they did, the way to di- 
minish them is, not to make them grounds of 
division, but to view them in connexion with 
those infinite and eternal principles on which 
we are one. 

And history and experience demonstrate that 
unanimity of affection is perfectly compatible 
with circumstantial variety of religious opinion. 
Where is the particular church even, whose 
members are all absolutely agreed on every 
theological tittle '? yet numerous are the par- 
ticular churches which are living in internal 
harmony and love. In many an Episcopalian 
edifice the Calvinist and the Armenian worship 
together in peace ;f and in many a Dissenting 
chapel, the Baptist and Psedobaptist commune 
together at the table of the Lord. The " United 
Christian churches''^ established in Scotland, 
including Calvinists, Baxterians, Presbyterians, 
Baptists, Independents, and Methodists, are 
said to exhibit the delightful spectacle of Chris- 
tians, of almost every variety of sentiment en- 
tertained by the orthodox, walking together in 

* These M minor differences of opinion" had no re- 
lation at all to the doctrines and precepts of the Sa- 
viour. Ed. 

t Probably at the expense of truth. En. 

% See Bowes on Christian Union; a treatise of con- 
siderable research, and breathing an excellent spirit. 



20S THE PLEAS AND DISGUISES OF SCHISM. 

harmony and love. And could a community of 
Melancthons, Jewels, Latimers, Leightons, Bax- 
ters, Bates, and Howes be formed, how easy to 
forsee the delightful concord in which they 
would live together ; merging their trivial dif- 
ferences in the magnificent truths which made 
them one ; or alluding to those differences only 
in a way which enhanced their mutual esteem. 
And what is it but an inferior state of knowl- 
edge and piety, which prevents their professed 
descendants of the present day from honoring 
their principles, by exemplifying their catholic 
spirit ? 

III. " We do not entertain sentiments of 
hostility to any other branch of the Christian 
Church ; nor do we desire the continuance of 
its present divisions ; indeed, we long for the 
unity of the whole Church in the bond of peace." 
These professions may be made sincerely ; but, 
often, it is to be feared, they are only the lan- 
guage of self-deception and schism. Can those 
who utter it be satisfied with making Christian 
love to consist in the bare absence of active 
hostility, or even of conscious dislike ? Can 
mere professions of religious friendship, when 
unaccompanied by the natural evidences of 
Christian esteem and confidence, serve to de- 
monstrate any thing but their insincerity? And 
as to the peace which they profess to sigh for — 
are they prepared to obtain it on any but 
the magnanimous condition that the universal 
Church shall capitulate and submit to their 
terms? They are clamorous for union; but 
then it must be by uniformity — of which their 
own church shall be the model ; and subjuga- 



THE PLEAS AND DISGUISES OF SCHISM. 209 

Hon — in which they alone shall remain su- 
preme. All who differ from them being neces- 
sarily wrong, it would of course be treason to 
the cause of truth, to think of any alternative 
but perpetual war or unqualified submission. 
Quando solitudinem fecere appellant pacem — 
when they have made a desolation they will call 
it peace. And thus under a pretended desire 
for union, they pertinaciously cherish the prin- 
ciples of division. 

The Dissenter who employs the language 
supposed, should remember that, in order to 
evince his sincerity, he must inquire what as- 
spect his particular church most probably pre- 
sents to the Dissenters of other communities, 
and must labor to remove from it every thing 
unscriptural and repulsive : while, in relation 
to the members of the Established Church, he 
must be conscious of a readiness to make the 
necessary allowances for men in the possession 
of temporal superiority and legal power, to meet 
them in the spirit of liberal Christian conces- 
sion, and laboriously and perseveringly to em- 
ploy the various methods of scriptural concilia- 
tion. And the Churchman should remember 
that, if he would sincerely employ this language, 
he must be conscious of regret at the spirit of 
assumption which too generally pervades his 
community, and of a willingness to co-operate 
in the removal of those ecclesiastical restrictions 
in which principally that spirit originates. " Few 
churches," remarks Bishop Taylor,* " that 
have framed bodies of confession and articles 

* Sections xxii., xxiii. 



210 THE PLEAS AND DISGUISES OF SCHISM. 

will endure any person that is not of the same 
confession ; which is a plain demonstration that 
such bodies of confession and articles do much 
hurt, by becoming instruments of separating 
and dividing communions, and making un- 
necessary or uncertain propositions a certain 

means of schism and disunion As for 

particular churches, they are bound to allow 
communion to all those that profess the same 
faith upon which the apostles did give com- 
munion ; for whatsoever preserves us as mem- 
bers of the Church, gives us title to the com- 
munion of saints ; and whatsoever faith or belief 
that ,is to which God hath promised heaven, 
that faith makes us members of the Catholic 
Church. Since, therefore, the judicial acts of 
the Church are then most prudent and religious 
when they nearest imitate the example and 
piety of God, to make the way to heaven straiter 
than God made it, or to deny to communicate 
with those whom God will vouchsafe to be unit- 
ed, and to refuse our charity to those who have 
the same faith, because they have not all our 
opinions, and believe not every thing necessary 
which we overvalue, is impious and schismati- 
cal ; it infers tyranny on one part, and per- 
suades and tempts to uncharitableness and ani- 
mosities on both ; it dissolves societies, and is 
an enemy to peace ; it busies men in imperti- 
nent wranglings, and by names of men and 
titles of factions it consigns the interested par- 
ties to act their differences to the height, and 
makes them neglect those advantages which 
piety and a good life bring to the reputation of 
Christian religion and societies." 



THE PLEAS AND DISGUISES OF SCHISM. 211 

4. (< But the truth must be maintained ; you 
would not have us sacrifice the truth." Most 
freely do we admit that nothing connected with 
religion is unimportant, or absolutely indiffer- 
ent ; and, that, important as the harmony and 
peace of the Church may be, the interests of 
truth and holiness are still more so ; partly, be- 
cause they are the only foundation on which 
the temple of peace can be built. And most 
earnestly do we deprecate that latitudiuarian 
indifference which would attempt reconciliation 
at the expense of truth, as evil in its origin, and 
highly dangerous in its tendency. The princi- 
ples of revelation are immortal and immutable ; 
and he who fancies that he has a dispensing 
power here, or who acts as if he had, by mak- 
ing a single concession to an object or a party at 
the expense of Truth, from that moment writes 
himself traitor to her throne, and becomes dis- 
qualified for her service. 

We have to remind the objector, however, 
that there is a wide difference between de- 
nouncing schism and asking for the sacrifice of 
truth. If we could present him with no alter- 
native between schism and uniformity — if we 
were to propose perfect unanimity of opinion 
instead of unanimity of affection— he would 
then have ground for repeating and urging his 
objection. But let him observe, first, — a truth 
which we have often repeated already — that we 
do not ask him to sacrifice his opinions, but 
only his unchristian bigotry. We do not ask 
the Independent to become an Episcopalian, 
nor the Episcopalian to become an Independ- 
ent. We do not ask the Calvinist to change 
19 



212 THE PLEAS AND DISGUISES OF SCHISM. 

sides with the Armenian, nor the Baptist with 
the Paedo-baptist : but only to exchange the 
visible expressions of that love which they ought 
mutually to cherish as heirs together of the 
grace of life. We have to remind him, second- 
ly, that by maintaining his present position, he 
most likely is sacrificing the truth, in more 
senses than one ; while by maintaining the uni- 
ty of the Spirit in the bond of peace, he would 
be vindicating and magnifying the truth. At 
present he is saying in effect, The grand doc- 
trines of salvation are nothing as a basis of 
Christian union, unless their reception be ac- 
companied by certain shades of opinion which 
I myself have adopted ; the fact that " God 
hath received him" into his favor, is no argu- 
ment why I should receive him into commun- 
ion, although inspired authority has affirmed 
that it is, unless he will consent to adopt every 
tittle of my creed : — and thus the. truth as it is 
in Jesus is reduced to a level with truth as it is 
in a party. Whereas, by making those doc- 
trines the ground of Christian union, he would 
be exalting them before the eyes of the world, 
and proclaiming, that so great and glorious are 
they in his estimation, that every thing else ap- 
pears comparatively little. At present, he is 
sacrificing truth, also, by indulging his attach- 
ment to particular shades of opinion, at the ex- 
pense of all that large portion of the Bible which 
inculcates love to the brethren. He is putting 
contempt on the truth by putting contempt on 
the brotherhood. He is disparaging so large 
and vital a portion of the Bible, that if he per- 
sist in sacrificing it, even though he retain every 



THE PLEAS AND DISGUISES OF SCHISM. 213 

other part, he is endangering his salvation. " I," 
said Baxter, — and the sentiment was worthy the 
inspired pen of the seraphic John — u I can as 
willingly be a martyr for love as for any article 
of the creed. " But in his infatuated zeal for a 
punctilio or a party, the objector appears utter- 
ly to forget that there is such an article as love 
in his creed, or such a doctrine as love in the 
Bible. He defends some little angle or orna- 
ment in the temple of truth at the expense of 
one of the pillars. He contends for the letter — 
or rather perhaps for a letter — of the truth, in a 
way which tramples on the spirit which pervades 
the whole. Whereas, thirdly, we have to remind 
him that by cultivating catholic fellowship, he 
would be not merely not sacrificing the truth, 
not merely maintaining it, but most likely pro- 
moting his own peculiar views of it. He might 
still inculcate those views from the pulpit and 
the press, and recommend thern by the amiable 
influence of his example ; for controversy itself 
may be so conducted as to win esteem instead 
of alienating it. Love is a key which would 
afford him the readiest and the surest access to 
the hearts and consciences of others. If his 
peculiar views are scriptual, as they came down 
at first from the calm region of heaven, so their 
self-recommending excellence is more likely to 
be seen and appreciated in the serene atmos- 
phere of peace than in any other. And as the 
whole system of revealed truth originated in the 
love which compassionated our fatal ignorance, 
is he not likely to be more successful in propa- 
gating it, the more he inculcates it in the spirit 
in which it was first conceived ? 



214 THE PLEAS AND DISGUISES OF SCHISM. 

Let us ask the objector : if only one sect re- 
mained — and if that were a small sect distin- 
guished from the great body of the faithful by 
believing that Christian communion was un- 
necessary, and the union of the Church a mat- 
ter of indifference : — in other words, suppose 
that the only portion of truth which remained 
in the least jeopardy were the doctrine of bro- 
therly love — what is the spirit in which he 
would contend for it ? Surely he would not 
vindicate the claims of love in the spirit of an- 
ger. Surely he would not think of winning 
that little faction over, and of thus restoring the 
Church to its first integrity, by decrying and 
denouncing them. Brotherly love — -the doctrine 
in question — would disown such means ; it 
would dictate overtures of peace, point to its 
obvious advantages, seek for friendly interviews, 
be seen weeping, be heard interceding, and 
thus would it soon assert its known omnipo- 
tence, and lead them all . in happy triumph. 
This would be contending for the truth with 
the only weapon which its Author permits : 
why will not the objector employ them now, 
and gain the victories of love ? 

5. " But are not divisions useful ? have they 
not been the means of exciting emulation, 
quickening Christian activity, and of thus in- 
strumentally diffusing the blessings of the Gos- 
pel V When the objector utters this senti- 
ment, he is probably thinking of instances in 
which a dissenting church, having divided, has 
sometimes succeeded in planting a second or 
even a third community ; or else of the way in 
which Dissenters, by forming benevolent and 



THE PLEAS AND DISGUISES OF SCHISM. 2i 5 

religious societies, are alleged to have been the 
means of arousing the dormant energies of the 
Establishment, and of inducing it to constitute 
similar societies. But let him remember that, 
in order to estimate the effects of hostile divi- 
sion, he should compare them, not with the 
effects of another evil — of supineness, heresy, 
or any other unscriptural state into which a 
church can fall — but with the probable effects 
which would result from the scriptural union of 
the divided parties, and from their harmonious 
obedience to the will of Christ. Let him re- 
member that while the partial good resulting 
from this rivalry is apparent, and has probably 
been nearly reaped, the harvest of evil is yet to 
come, and can be estimated fully by Him alone 
who sees the end from the beginning. And 
let him remember, also, that not a tittle of that 
good which he exultingly points at, has resulted 
from our divisions properly considered ; for we 
are not to suppose that the " God of order" has 
become the patron of confusion, sanctioning 
our disorders, and turning them into approved 
means of grace. The good referred to, has re- 
sulted from motives either right or wrong ; — if 
from right motives, that is only saying that it 
has sprung, not from our divisions, but from 
our piety in spite of our divisions; — if from 
wrong motives, then it is to be ascribed entirely 
to the over-ruling providence of God : and our 
feelings in reference to it should resemble those 
of the penitent Jews on the day of Pentecost, 
when they saw that the blood they had shed on 
Calvary had been wonderfully made the ele- 
ment of human salvation — feelings of humility, 
19* 



216 THE PLEAS AND DISGUISES OF SCHISM. 

penitence, and adoring gratitude. As to an 
objector who should affirm, without any qualifi- 
cation, that the Church is better in a state of 
division than of union, we can only wonder at 
his not advancing a step further and affirming 
that no church whatever would be best of all— 
for to such a result his opinions would unques- 
tionably lead. He is, in effect, avowing that 
had our Lord and his apostles acted wisely they 
would have formed, not one visible and united 
Church, but separate and rival communities, 
like those at present existing ; that they would 
not have recorded sentiments deprecating and 
denouncing division, but rather encouraging it ; 
that sectarianism is a great improvement on the 
original constitution of the Christian Church ; 
that the prospect of the final union of the Church 
is to be zealously retarded by all who desire its 
prosperity ; and, to be consistent, he ought to 
institute an inquiry whether the Church is yet 
sufficiently divided ; and whether the piety and 
usefulness of that particular community of fifty 
or five hundred to which he may belong, would 
not be materially increased by minute subdi- 
vision ; for if the division of the entire Church 
be a blessing, why should the separation of his 
particular community be regarded as an evil ? 

Having attempted an exposition of the evils 
of division, and shown the futility of the more 
popular objections to its removal by a restora- 
tion of Christian union, we are now prepared to 
entertain the subject which naturally follows in 
the ensuing chapter — the nature of the union 
to be sought. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE KIND OF UNION TO EE ATTEMPTED. 

To ask the Christian Church, in its present 
divided and distracted state, for an audience on 
the subject of its union, might at first appear to 
be a vain and useless request. Let us lay it 
down, however, at once, as an infallible propo- 
sition, 

1. That union is attainable ; and that, soon- 
er or later, it will be obtained. The divisions 
of the Church are not to be perpetual. The 
name of Jehovah shall be one throughout all 
the earth. In the lapse of time, therefore, the 
period must arrive when the first movement to- 
wards that oneness shall be made. Amidst 
much that is apparently discouraging in the 
signs of the times, it may, we think, be made 
to appear that it is not an unseasonable nor a 
hopeless aim to attempt that movement now. 

2. But, here, the first caution necessary is, 
that we do not set our standard of union too 
high. By attempting too much, the timid and 
cautious will be alarmed — the spirit of party 
will become vigilant and suspicious — and even 
wisdom and piety themselves, should they be 



218 THE KIND OF UNION TO BE ATTEMPTED. 

prevailed on to countenance the attempt, will 
do so hopeless of success. While we do not 
lose sight, then, of the scriptural model of primi- 
tive union, we must remember that the Church 
has, by a long period of disunion, disqualified 
itself for a sudden and complete return to that 
only and perfect state ; and, while we readily 
admit that the agency of God could, perfectly, 
and at once, heal our breaches, yet instead of 
waiting for such a miracle, we must be content 
with making approximations, and gratefully ac- 
cept every return to each other, as a proof that 
he is graciously returning to us. 

3. Having erected our standard of union, 
we must not expect that any one party will con- 
cede more than ourselves, in order to meet it. 
If, in order to reach it, sacrifices are necessary, 
these sacrifices must be mutual. We must be 
prepared to give as much as we ask ; and, in- 
stead of waiting till others move, we must our- 
selves set the example of concession in the hope 
of being followed. The glory of leading here 
is, in some respects, greater than that of the 
martyr's crown. When so much had been done 
at Marpurg to effect an agreement between Lu- 
ther and the Helvetians, he magnanimously re- 
solved that they should not make larger grants 
for peace, nor carry away the honor of being 
more desirous of union than he. Let a passion 
for this honor seize the Christian Church, and 
the work of reconciliation will be easy. 

4. Let us not imagine that Christian union 
would necessarily follow if certain changes in 
ecclesiastical affairs could be effected. " We 



THE KIND OF UNION TO BE ATTEMPTED. 219 

might be awfully disappointed :• and we should 
most certainly be so, if we relied upon any ex- 
ternal state of things, if we failed of a propor- 
tionate increase in watchfulness against sin, 
and devotedness to God ; if we were not * given 
to prayer ;' if we did not realise all the objects 
of our most holy faith.' " We might all sub- 
scribe to the same creed — bow to the same hu- 
man authority in religion — form a church nomi- 
nally one ; and yet, as it has often been with 
the church of Rome, our internal dissensions 
might almost realise the account of the infernal 
4< portress, " whose progeny having crept 



: into her womb, 



And kennelled there, yet there still barked and howled, 
Within, unseen." 

5. We must not be disheartened or deterred 
from our attempt by the fact that similar at- 
tempts, in former times, have so generally fail- 
ed. If they failed, we may rest assured that it 
was not owing to any obstacle interposed by the 
hand of God, but because the plan proposed 
was unscriptural in its nature, or attempted too 
much, or was made, or met, in an unscriptural 
spirit ; yet even then there was probably much 
in it pleasing to God, and profitable to many of 
the parties engaged. Our aim must be, in the 
strength of God, to ascertain and avoid the 
rocks on which they foundered, and to steer 
our course with the Bible in our hand, and the 
glory of God in our eye ; and then, " though 
Israel be not gathered" by our immediate ef- 

• Rev. Dr. J. P. Smith. 



220 THE KIND OF UNION TO CE ATTEMPTED. 

forts, yet " shall we be glorious in the eyes of 
the Lord." We shall have entered a protest 
for God against the divisions of his people, and 
our example may stimulate the Christians of a 
later age to a more successful effort. 

ih We must proceed under a calm, definite, 
deep sense of duty to God, and of the pressing 
exigencies of his Church. If we are actuated 
only by a momentary impulse, a thousand ob- 
stacles will arise to deter us from advancing. 
Some, whom we had expected to find most con- 
ceding and conciliatory, will prove exacting and 
repulsive. Others, from whom we had expected 
examples of magnanimity, will be found contend- 
ing for trifles ; simply because they have con- 
tended for them till to them they have ceased to 
be trifles; till they have become objects which, 
to their apprehensions, it would be treason to 
surrender, and is chivalry to defend. While 
" the love of many" whom we had expected to 
see burning for union, will " wax cold," and 
chill all around them. But if we have taken an 
enlightened survey of the necessities of the 
Church, and listened to the unfaltering voice 
of duty, none of these things will move us. 
Remembering that we are advancing along a 
path which the great Reconciler himself trod, 
" resisting unto blood," we shall " arm ourselves 
likewise with the same mind." 

I. Union, to be permanent, must be based on 
the supreme and sole authority of the word of 
God, and on the inalienable right of private 
judgment. Any association in the Church, 
founded on principles which should overlook, 
or do violence, to either of these conditions, 



THE KL\D OF UxNION TO BE ATTEMPTED. 221 

however unanimously adopted by the parties 
first forming it, is sure, sooner or later, to be 
dissolved, and is likely to be attended with dis- 
sension till it is dissolved. 

If the Bible be a revelation from God, its 
authority, on every subject to which it relates, 
must be regarded as paramount. To read that 
revelation is not merely the right but the duty 
of every human being — a right in relation to 
his fellow-men — a duty in relation to God. But 
if it be his duty to read, he is equally bound to 
read with the view of understanding its con- 
tents, and of following his convictions of its re- 
quirements. This obligation, arising from the 
dominion of God over his creatures, is, in the 
order of nature, prior to every other — and 
hence, no exercise of human authority can just- 
ly interfere with duties which are previously 
due to God. And as it is prior so is it superior 
to every other — no human power can discharge 
him from it — it comprehends the sovereign, the 
outlaw, and the obedient subject alike ; for it 
regards men as moral and responsible agents — 
relations in which they all agree. And as the 
obligation cannot be removed from him by any 
human hand, neither can he himself devolve it 
on another. This is a birthright which he can- 
not sell. If his views of the will of God, and 
the obedience which he renders him, be not the 
result of his own conscientious convictions de- 
rived from the Bible, they are formality or im- 
piety. His personal accountableness indeed 
does not forbid him the aids of an enlightened 
human interpretation of that word, but rather 
implies it ; for such interpretation being accom- 



222 THE KIND OF UNION TO BE ATTEMPTED. 

panied by arguments and reasons, these reasons 
are necessarily submitted to his judgment ; con- 
sequently, as far as they are concerned, he is 
still left to his convictions. And to imagine 
that an obedience flowing from any other source 
could be acceptable to God, is to suppose that 
he will be pleased even where there is no sin- 
cere intention to please him. Whereas man is 
as responsible for the nature of his professed 
obedience, as for his disobedience ; nor can his 
faith or his worship approve itself to God as an 
expression of love, only in so far as it approves 
itself to his own conviction as that which the 
word of God requires. To form and follow his 
own convictions of the revealed will of God is 
an inalienable right of which no human being 
can justly deprive him, and an imperative duty 
from which no created authority can absolve 
him. 

The supremacy of the word of God, and the 
rights of conscience, are the grand though sim- 
ple principles of the Reformation ; and the 
Protestant who undervalues them is saying, in 
effect, Let us relapse again into the bosom of 
the Romish church. Acting consistently on 
these, we shall not attempt a unity which means 
uniformity ; which substitutes submission to au- 
thority for the investigation of truth ; which 
prevents a difference of opinion by allowing no 
opinion at all. We shall be jealous for the 
honor of the Bible, and tender of the right of 
others to judge for themselves of its meaning, 
as conditions involving our own liberty and well- 
being. We shall allow to each his denomina- 
tional differences, and yet receive him as a be- 
liever in Christ. 



THE KIND OF UNION TO BE ATTEMPTED. 223 

But not only do the principles in question 
prohibit every attempt at union at the expense 
of Christian liberty, they powerfully tend to 
produce union compatible with that liberty. 
Suppose there were at present only a small 
number of Christians upon earth, and these 
living apart, and ignorant of each other's exist- 
ence — suppose that they were ignorant of the 
existence of even a written revelation, and that 
the sum total of their doctrinal belief amounted 
simply to this, that Jesus Christ came into the 
world to save sinners — suppose that, living 
under the influence of this fundamental and 
saving truth, they felt an earnest desire for 
Christian communion, without knowing where 
to obtain it — that, in order to gratify this desire, 
and to organise them into a society, the Divine 
Redeemer had assembled them together — and 
suppose that thus ignorant and thus assembled, 
he should then introduce them to each other as 
mutually desirous of Christian communion, and 
should produce the Book, saying, " Behold the 
charter of your common salvation ; within its 
sacred pages you will find a warrant, and even 
a command for the fellowship you seek. In 
every question that may arise concerning the 
cultivation of that fellowship, consult and sub- 
mit to its authority as supreme ; and, should a 
difference of opinion obtain concerning the in- 
terpretation of any part of that authority, re- 
gard each other as following his conscientious 
views of that authority, and love each other on 
that account." Would they not feel that even 
in the mutual adoption of the Book, the prelim- 
inaries of union were already settled ? In the 
20 



224 THE KIND OF UNION TO BE ATTEMPTED. 

common reception of the Bible as the word of 
God, and in the acknowledgment of its suprem- 
acy, together with the consequent duty of every 
man to follow his conscientious views of its 
dictates, is laid the foundation, and the only 
foundation, on which can be built the temple 
of Christian peace. But where is the Protes- 
tant Christian, or Christian denomination, which 
does not professedly admit and admire that 
foundation ? Here, then, is the first essential 
to Christian union, already — by supposition, at 
least — in our possession. 

II. The second essential, and naturally fol- 
lowing from the former, is substantial oneness 
of faith. Without such an agreement there 
could be no Christian motive to unite ; preach- 
ing, would be perpetual controversy ; and inter- 
course, pure contention. While more than 
substantial agreement is unnecessary and un- 
attainable. But this is not only attainable, it 
already exists. Justification by faith in the 
atoning sacrifice of the Son of God, together 
with the doctrines which it necessarily involves, 
is held alike by Episcopalian and Presbyterian, 
Independent, Methodist, Baptist, and Friend, 
and by all the orthodox sections of which the 
Christian community consists. Now, suppose 
again that the assembly we have just imagined, 
having received the Book, and unanimously 
agreed to follow its dictates, should proceed, in 
companies, to ascertain its essential doctrines. 
Would it not surprise and delight them to find 
that they had all arrived at the same conclu- 
sion ? that on the great basis of evangelical 
doctrine they were already one ? And would 



THE KIND OF UNION TO BE ATTEMPTED. 225 

they not be ready to conclude that as nothing 
could separate them from the love of Christ, so 
nothing could possibly arise to sever them from 
the love of each other in him. Here, then, is 
a second essential to Christian unity, in present 
existence. 

III. But the belief of the Gospel is valuable 
onlv so far as it renews the heart and forms the 
character to holiness What is the design of 
the whole economy of mercy, but to rescue a 
portion of our race ruined by sin ; to expel that 
sin from their nature ; and to restore them to 
holiness and heaven ? And what is the Church 
of Christ, but the society of those on whom 
that lofty design has begun to take effect, col- 
lected into a community preparatory to their 
translation to the general assembly above? To 
unite with any others in Christian fellowship 
would be highly undesirable and opposed to the 
will of God, even were such union possible ; 
for as well might Christians disband and unite 
with the world, as to receive the world into 
their communion ; the effect in each case 
would be the same — the destruction of the spir- 
itual character of the faithful. Nor would it be 
possible, if desirable; for what communion hath 
light with darkness, or what fellowship hath 
Christ with Belial ? The union sought then is 
a felloioship of Christians ; and, consequently, 
that church whose communion is the most pure, 
is the most eligible, and likely to be the most 
ready, for catholic union. 

IV. Such an association would be necessa- 
rily cemented by brotherly love. Having all 
€xperienced a change which had impressed the 



226 THE KIND OF UNION TO BE ATTEMPTED. 

same image on every heart, they would love as 
brethren. Nothing less than this will satisfy 
the demands of Scripture ; — no unity of opinion 
in the bond of ignorance — no unity of pro- 
fession in the bond of hypocrisy — nothing, but 
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace : 
for " love is the fulfilling of the law." " And 
though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, 
and though I give my body to be burned, and 
have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." 
And nothing less than such love will satisfy 
Christians themselves, for they " are taught of 
God to love one another." They do not find it 
necessary to labor to love each other ; brotherly 
love is a principle common to every Christian, 
and its exercise is spontaneous : " we know 
that we have passed from death unto life, be- 
cause we love the brethren." 

V. But this love will necessarily discover it- 
self in appropriate acts and expressions ; and 
thus the union will be made visible to the world. 
One of these visible expressions of love to each 
other, the Head of the Church has himself 
specifically appointed in the ordinance of V the 
Lord's supper." Though this, indeed, is not, 
as some seem to imagine, the whole of Chris- 
tian fellowship, it is a most vital and important 
branch of it ; and though it denotes also com- 
munion with God, it does not the less imply com- 
munion with each other. " The cup of bless- 
ing which we bless, is it not a communion, or 
joint participation, of the blood of Christ? the 
bread which we break, is it not a joint partici- 
pation of the body of Christ? Because there is 
one bread, we, the many, are one body ; for we 



THE KIND OF UNION TO BE ATTEMPTED. 227 

are all partakers of that one bread."* The 
moral of the ordinance may be expressed in the 
language of St. John, " Beloved, if God so 
loved us, we ought also to love one another." 
Hence, in its celebration, we are commanded 
to put away " the leaven of malice and wicked- 
ness" — to cultivate benevolent feelings towards 
the entire brotherhood. Never does the Chris- 
tian Church appear more distinctly in its proper 
character as the family of God, than when it is 
observing this ordinance ; and is it from this 
family feast that the children are to be ex- 
cluded ?f It is an epitome of that heavenly 
multitude, in which " all nations, tribes, and 
tongues," breathe the same spirit, and appear 
in the same character — that of redeemed sin- 
ners ; and is it the harmony of such a scene 
that we would mar by the enforcement of our 
peculiarities ? Shall the great symbol of our 
common Christianity be degraded into the 
badge and criterion of a party ; Shall the rite 
which more than any other is adapted to cement 
mutual attachment, and which is in a great 
measure appointed for that purpose, be fixed 
upon as the line of demarcation to separate and 
disjoin the followers of Christ? A union which 
should propose to omit the communion of 
Christians, or of churches, in this ordinance, 
would be radically defective and unscriptural ; 

* 1 Cor. x. 1G, 17. This is the translation of Gro- 
tius, Diodati, and Castalio ; also of Waterland, Bishop 
Pearce, and many others. 

t The spirit of these remarks is very commendable ; 
but the writer evidently has very lax views of the 
scriptural qualification- for communion. Ed. 

20* 



228 THE KrND OF UNION TO BE ATTEMPTED. 

and the church which intentionally places an 
obstacle in the way of such communion, or 
knowingly allows it to remain, is obviously op- 
posing the will of God. 

VI. Unanimity of heart would infallibly pro- 
duce unanimity of action in the Christian cause. 
Impelled by the same motive towards the same 
object, what could result but harmonious pro- 
gress together ? The relative design of an in- 
dividual conversion is, that the man may be- 
come an instrument of good to others. For the 
same object, a number of converts are to be 
organised into a particular church ; that their 
union may be strength. But for the same 
reason that we combine as Christians to form a 
particular church, we should unite as churches 
and denominations. The very circumstance of 
our union itself would attract notice ; and hence 
the object of our Lord's supplication that his 
people might be one was, that the world might 
perceive that the Father had sent him. The 
institution of the Christian Church is meant to 
economise and combine all the energies and 
passions of sanctified humanity ; to collect all 
the scattered agencies of good which earth con- 
tains, and to organise them into a vast engine 
whose entire power should be brought to bear 
on the conversion of the world. The practica- 
bility of such co-operation among Christians of 
different denominations, has long been demon- 
strated in the constitution and working of the 
British and Foreign Bible Society, and of the 
Religious Tract Society. In the former of 
these, Christians of different persuasions are 
seen, merging their peculiar opinions on the 



i 



THE KIND OF UNION TO BE ATTEMPTED. 229 

minor topics of revelation, and uniting before 
the world in the grand assertion, that the Bible 
is the pure word of God — that on all subjects 
of a religious nature, its authority is supreme — 
that every human being possesses the sacred 
right, and is under a solemn obligation, to ex- 
amine and follow its dictates — that on all its 
distinctive and leading doctrines they are one — 
and that their firm conviction is, that its uni- 
versal circulation and cordial reception would 
be attended with the holiest, happiest, and 
most heavenly results. In the latter Society, 
Christians of various denominations combine to 
circulate those great truths in which they all 
agree, and which they believe to be the only 
truths essential to salvation. The subject of 
baptism, forms of church government, and 
whatever distinguishes them as members of 
particular communities, are here held in abey- 
ance. These, in the spirit of moderation, they 
can discuss in other forms, and at other times. 
But here they unite, as Christian members of 
the one universal Church, to propagate among 
their perishing fellow-men the truths on which 
their own souls rely for eternal life ; and thus 
tell the world, that in the cause of their Re- 
deemer's glory, and of human salvation, they 
are one. While the public anniversaries of 
these noble institutions, as well as of most of 
our Missionary Societies, have often been festi- 
vals of Christian love, " such as heaven stoops 
down to see." 

At some of our foreign missionary stations, 
also, where the* T strifes and estrangements of 
home are forgotten, the frequent union of min- 



230 THE KIND OF UNION TO BE ATTEMPTED. 

isters and churches of different persuasions ex- 
hibits a delightful spectacle of Christian har- 
mony and love. Why should not parallel 
scenes, and on a grander scale, be witnessed at 
home ? Why should not ministers who asso- 
ciate on the platform reciprocate in the hallowed 
employment of the pulpit? If the Episcopalian 
clergyman be welcome to the pulpit of the Dis- 
senter, why should not Dissenting ministers be 
admitted to the pulpits of the Establishment? 
" Why must the Scotch Presbyterians alone have 
the benefit of the instructions of Dr. Chalmers 
in London, when every pulpit of the Establish- 
ment ought to welcome him ? Why must Dr. 
Cooke betake himself to Surrey Chapel ? Why 
must the Dissenters alone listen to Dr. Ward- 
law, or Mr. Jay ? The objection, that bad doc- 
trine might thus be taught by the Dissenters 
from the pulpits of the Establishment is not 
valid. If a clergyman wish for bad doctrine, 
what is to hinder him finding it in the Estab- 
lishment ? And if he does not wish for it, he 
would not admit an unsound Congregationalist, 
any more than he would an unsound Episco- 
palian now, to preach for him."* Surely such 
restrictions are not to be continued for ever ! 
Even if they are prolonged till that millennial 
period which is the prevailing hope of the 
Christian Church, surely they will vanish then ! 
How ill would they harmonise with its commun- 
ion of saints, or consist with the light, liberty, 
and prosperity of its holy catholic Church ! But 
who shall say how much that period would be 

* Fundamental Reform, &c, by a Clergyman. 



THE KIND OF UNION TO BE ATTEMPTED. 231 

hastened by their prompt and voluntary removal 
now? At present, how little comparatively do 
we know of each other ; and as that little re- 
lates principally to our differences and our 
faults, how necessarily does it increase dislike, 
and widen our divisions! on the other hand, 
let us only meet on common ground, hail each 
other as auxiliaries to the same grand cause, 
and co-operate for the common interests of the 
world, and how necessarily would our ground- 
less dislikes give place to a feeling that would 
deprecate every project to disjoin, and welcome 
only such measures as tended more closely to 
unite ! If it be true of the blessed God, that 
" they who know his name will put their trust 
in him," it must be true in a subordinate but 
corresponding sense, that the more his people, 
as such, know of each other — of their mutual 
resemblance to him, their common concern for 
the salvation of the world, and their zeal for his 
glory — the more sincerely will they admire each 
other's piety, and the more will they unite for 
the achievement of their common object. 

VII. If we do not add, that Christians 
should be one in name, it is not because we re- 
gard such oneness as unimportant, or as ulti- 
mately unattainable ; but because we believe 
that it will be among the latest triumphs, if 
not the very crowning act of brotherly love. 
Whereas the unity which we would now incul- 
cate seems more proximate, and would of itself 
be sufficient to render Christians, though still 
distinct in name, in substance one. What is of 
much more immediate importance, and more 
easily attainable, and more urgently enforced 



232 THE KIND OF UNION TO BE ATTEMPTED. 

in Scripture, is, that the union of Christians 
should be visible. For this our Saviour prayed ; 
and prayed for it as a requisite to the conver- 
sion of the world. It is in vain to reply that 
his followers are now, and ever have been, one, 
as members of that one body of which he is the 
glorified Head. This is known only to the 
Church in heaven ; and understood only by the 
Church on earth ; whereas the world must see 
it. Our Jerusalem, like that of old, must both 
be " builded as a city that is compact together," 
and be " set upon a hill." Evidence must be 
given to the senses of men, that not merely in 
profession, but in heart and object, we are 
one. The fact should be too plain to be 
misunderstood ; and too palpable to remain a 
secret. 

Now the elements of union which we have 
described, include all that is necessary to pro- 
duce this visibility. By practically admitting 
the supremacy of the word of God, we should 
feel ourselves called on to revise the constitu- 
tion of the Church to which we belong, and to 
remove from it whatever infringed on that su- 
premacy, or even appeared to assume an equal- 
ity with it. And by acting on the universal 
right of private judgment, we should perceive 
the inconsistency of all ecclesiastical assump- 
tion and imposition, and deprecate every thing 
like penalty or degradation for exercising that 
right ; and thus some of the principal roots of 
bitterness would at once and effectually be cut 
up and destroyed. Born into the same family, 
adoring the same Redeemer, making his char- 
acter our common model, the salvation of the 



TUE KIND OF UNION TO BE ATTEMPTED. 233 

world for which he died our common solicitude, 
and his glory our only end, what would result 
but the visible oneness of all who answered to 
this description ? In order to render the spec- 
tacle perfect, indeed, the union should be one 
of churches and denominations, as such ; but 
even short of this, such a union of individual 
Christians — of a considerable number of the 
members of different denominations — would of 
itself be a pledge and prelude of the speedy 
and complete union of the whole, and even of 
the approaching conversion of the world. Like 
the friendly provinces of the same continent, 
speaking the same language, living in allegi- 
ance to the same sovereign, and engaged in 
mutual and general traffic, the Church would 
present one scene of spiritual commerce, car- 
ried on chiefly for the advantage of the world, 
and visible to the universe. God would bless 
us, and all the ends of the earth would fear 
him. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE WAY IN WHICH UNION SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 

Were we to present a sketch of all the at- 
tempts which have been made to preserve or 
restore the unity of the Church, they would be 
found to consist of three kinds. 

First. Those which have aimed to repress 
diversity of religious opinion, and to produce 
outward conformity to a given standard, by em- 
ploying the principle of coercion. Of this na- 
ture are all authoritative " Creeds," " Forms of 
Concord," Ecclesiastical " Henoticons," or 
" Edicts of Union," " Acts against Schism," 
Royal " Concordats," and " Acts of Uniform- 
ity," " Fines," imprisonments, and punishments 
inflicted by the civil power. Constantine, who 
was the first to employ the material sword in 
the Church, and who did so apparently with 
the sincere desire of restoring the peace of the 
Church, no sooner discovered its inefficacy 
than he retraced his steps. Happy had it been 
for Christendom if the Church had been con- 
vinced by the result of his single experiment. 
Since then, however, it has been repeated in 
every age, and its failure has as often followed. 



UNION SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 235 

The history of religious coercion includes the 
great " Book of Martyrs :" its spirit is directly 
opposed to the genius of the Gospel ; and its 
inutility, as well as its schismatic tendency, is 
seen in the present divided state of the Chris- 
tian Church. 

Second. Those who have employed .argu- 
mentative discussion with the view of obtaining 
concession and compromise. Of this nature 
have been the numerous " Public Disputa- 
tions," " Charitable and Religious Conferen- 
ces, " as well as many Diets and Councils — 
assembled, sometimes by royal authority, and 
sometimes voluntarily, by the mutual desire of 
those composing them ; in which authority, 
learning, wit, wisdom, argument, ingenuity, 
persuasion, friendship, piety, and patience, all 
were present and exhausted their resources ; 
but the result of which has been, generally 
speaking, that the breach has been made wider 
than before. u The more men dispute," ob- 
serves Douglas, in his " Errors of Religion," 
" the less likely are they ever to agree. In an 
argument, it is not what an opponent is saying, 
but the answer which is to be given to him, 
that is considered Disputants, in- 
flamed against each other, mutually withdraw 
from each other's errors, regardless that they 
are leaving the truth, from which they have 
both departed, in the middle between them! 
and each looking only at the mistakes of the 
other, is confident that he must be in the right, 
because his opponent is in the wrong." 

The third, proceeds on the catholic principle 
of uniting on the great basis of evangelical doc- 
21 



236 THE WAY IN WHICH 

trine in which we already agree, and of exer- 
cising mutual forbearance on all subordinate 
matters. This is the only plan which now re- 
mains for the Church to pursue ; and this is 
the scriptural plan. " That union among 
Christians which it is so desirable to recover, 
must, we are persuaded, be the result of some- 
thing more heavenly and divine than legal re- 
straints or angry controversies. Unless an 
angel were to descend for that purpose, the 
spirit of division is a disease which will never 
be healed by troubling the waters. We must 
expect the cure from the increasing prevalence 
of religion, and from a copious communication 

of the Spirit to produce that event 

The general prevalence of piety in different 
communities would inspire that mutual respect, 
that heartfelt homage for the virtues conspicu- 
ous in the character of their respective mem- 
bers, which would urge us to ask with aston- 
ishment and regret, Why cannot we be one ? 
What is it that obstructs our union ? ,;# Shame 
— everlasting shame on the Church, that the 
efficacy of this plan should yet remain to be 
tried ! 

1. But the success even of this plan mate- 
rially depends, under God, on the spirit and 
manner in which it is pursued. Most of the 
introductory remarks in the preceding chapter 
relative to the kind of union sought, are equally 
applicable here, concerning the way in which it 
should be attempted. We should cherish the 
firmest conviction that, as there is the right 

* Hall's Zeal without Innovation. 



UXIOX SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 237 

kind of union, and as that union will ultimately 
obtain, so there is the right method of attempt- 
ing it ; and that method we are under an obli- 
gation to ascertain and put into practice. 

2. As we should not erect our standard of 
union too high, neither should we be too san- 
guine or impatient concerning its adoption. 
To the majority of Christians, the subject is as 
yet comparatively novel : and as it would not 
be desirable that their compliance should out- 
run their enlightened convictions ; so we must 
expect that even after such convictions are 
produced, early prejudices and mutual distrust 
will still for a while maintain their ground. 
" This kind goeth not forth but by" the spirit 
of love. 

3. However we may deplore what we may 
deem unscriptural in the constitution and usages 
of other churches, we should never contemplate 
their conformity to our model without much 
self -distrust. Every proposition with which 
we are acquainted for absorbing other sects in 
any given denomination, has worn, at least, a 
very questionable aspect ; many of them are 
too arrogant and sectarian to leave their origin 
in doubt. 

4. Excellent documents have been drawn up 
from time to time by the healing spirits of the 
Church, under the names of " Declarations,'' 
" Comprehensions," and u Forms of Agree- 
ment" — to be subscribed by the Christians of 
different persuasions as the basis of their union. 
We confess, however, that we have no faith in 
the utility of such measures as the means of 
promoting union. That union to be scriptural 



238 THE WAY IN WHICH 

must be the effect of love : if that love exists 
already, such subscriptions are unnecessary : 
and if it do not, subscription is a poor substi- 
tute for it. Besides which, such documents 
themselves are almost certain, sooner or later, 
to become the occasions of contention'. 

" Some have endeavored to reunite these 
fractions," writes Bishop Taylor, in his intro- 
duction to the Liberty of Prophesying, " by 
propounding such a guide which they were all 
bound to follow ; hoping that the unity of a 
guide would have persuaded unity of minds; 
but who this guide should be, at last became 
such a question, that it made part of the fire 
that was to be quenched, so far was it from ex- 
tinguishing any part of the flame. Others 
thought of a rule, and this must be the means 
of union, or nothing could do it. But suppos- 
ing all the world had been agreed of this rule, 
yet the interpretation of it was so full of variety, 
that this also became a part of the disease for 
which the cure was pretended. All men re- 
solved upon this, that though they yet had not 
hit upon the right, yet some way must be 
thought upon to reconcile differences in opin- 
ion ; thinking, so long as this variety should 
last, Christ's kingdom was not advanced, and 
the work of the Gospel went on but slowly. 
Few men in the meantime considered, that so 
long as men had such variety of principles, 
such several constitutions, educations, tempers, 
and distempers, hopes, interests, and weak- 
nesses, degrees of light, and degrees of under- 
standing, it was impossible all should be of one 
mind. And what is impossible to be done is 



UNION SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 239 

not necessary it should be done ; and, there- 
fore, although variety of opinions was impossi- 
ble to be cured, (and they who attempted it 
did like him who claps his shoulder to the 
ground to stop an earthquake,) yet the incon- 
veniences arising from it might possibly be 
cured, not by uniting their beliefs, — that was 
to be despaired of, — but by curing that which 
caused these mischiefs, and accidental incon- 
veniences of their disagreeings." 

5. Nor would we advocate the formation of a 
neiv Denomination — including Christians of va- 
rious persuasions — as a means of promoting 
irnion. As far as such a step may be the result 
of mutual love, it would assuredly occasion joy 
among the angels in the presence of God. But 
if adopted, formally, as an experiment or a 
means, it would want the cordiality — the cen- 
tral fire of love — which would be necessary to 
fuse the parties into one consolidated whole, 
and to convince the world that they were one 
in more than in name. 

I. If we would prepare our minds for the 
subject of Christian union, let us come to it 
from the study of ecclesiastical history. Could 
all the lessons which that history teaches be 
summed up in one word, that word would 
surely be moderation. And if all Christians 
could arise together from its unprejudiced and 
devotional perusal, the effect could only be one 
— to induce them to strike hands in a covenant 
of mutual forbearance and love. 

II. Let us consider also the natural history 
and necessary imperfections of the human mind. 
How impotent is our reason, how dark our un- 

21* 



240 THE WAY IN WHICH 

derstanding, how wayward our passions, how 
deeply rooted our prejudices. How more than 
probable is it that no two individuals pass 
through precisely the same process in reaching 
their religious conclusions — that early propen- 
sities, prescribed courses of study, domestic 
and local impressions, artificial habits of thought, 
physical temperament, future prospects, and the 
infinite complication of influences through which 
we pass, make it impossible for any two persons 
ever to see the same object from the same point 
of view, or through exactly the same medium, 
so that, in effect, they never see absolutely the 
same object. How more than probable is it 
that a slight change in our circumstances 
would have produced a great change in our 
opinions ; and that if the judgment of any one 
is to be a standard to the world, there are 
thousands more eligible than ours. So that 
unless we can show that by some magic charm, 
or miraculous exemption, we have escaped the 
disturbing influences incident to humanity, and 
can claim perfection, we need the forbearance 
of our fellow-Christians ; and the tenderness 
we need for ourselves, we shall feel bound to 
extend to others. 

III. Let us make, in thought, a tour of the 
British churches — or, if we please, of Christen- 
dom ; and, having admired the deep devotional 
spirit which marks the worship of one commu- 
nity, the unction which pervades the preaching 
of another, the purity and primitive simplicity 
of a third, the pecuniary liberality of a fourth, 
the characteristic freedom, activity, and zeal, of 
a fifth, the self-correcting power and careful 



UNION SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 241 

discipline of a sixth, the constitutional com- 
pactness and unity of a seventh, and the rapid 
improvement of an eighth — let us say, is there 
nothing in all this which should enlarge our 
charity towards other churches, and which we 
wish to see copied by our own ? Superior on 
the whole, as we may allowably believe our own 
community to be, do we need to be reminded 
that it admits of improvement; and that the 
particular excellence which it most requires, is 
most likely already existing and even flourish- 
ing in some other church ? We surely do not 
believe that the religion of a party, as parties 
now exist, will ever be the religion of the world ; 
so that even if our community should ultimately 
prove to be the one nearest perfection, it 
will have to undergo considerable modifica- 
tion before it can receive universal extension. 
" Taking the three great forms of church gov- 
ernment, Episcopacy, Presbyterianism, and 
Congregationalism, I should proceed thus :* — 
These three systems of discipline, brought hon- 
estly and impartially to the test of Scripture, 
are all right and all wrong, — though right and 
wrong in different degrees. There is some- 
thing in the record in favor of all, but the book 
is not the exclusive property of any. There is 
more, perhaps, in support of each than the tho- 
roughgoing advocates of the others will admit. 
There is more of episcopacy than is quite pala- 
table to the presbyterian and the independent; 
there is more presbyterianism than the inde- 
pendent and the episcopalian can easily digest; 

* Rev. T. Binney. 



242 THE WAY IN WHICH 

and there is more of Congregationalism than 
either the priest or the presbyter can manage to 
get rid of." And do we not know that the 
wisest and the most magnanimous of each party 
are the readiest to admit this- — that many of 
them frankly allow that every existing system, 
in its practical working, requires many devia- 
tions from the letter of its principles — that no 
single existing system takes in every opportuni- 
ty and mode of doing good — that, could a plan 
be devised, for instance, combining the uniting 
principle and the power of Episcopacy and 
Presbyterianism with the local freedom and ac- 
tivity of Congregational Independence, it would 
bring the constitution of our churches much 
nearer to the apostolic model than any of the 
prevailing systems ? But even such a plan 
would no doubt admit of still farther improve- 
ment ; and, when completed, its greatest excel- 
lence perhaps would be, that it allowed an oc- 
casional departure from its. own rules — that it 
only asked to be treated as a means subordi- 
nate to an end infinitely greater. 

IV. From different churches, let us turn to 
their individual members ; and are we not con- 
strained to admit, as Howe did, that " of every 
differing party, we know some by whom we 
find ourselves much excelled in things far great- 
er than those in which we differ ?" And if so, 
must not that system need revision, and that 
state of mind call for humiliation, which pre- 
vents us from taking them to our heart? Let 
us remember that individual or Christian com- 
munion may precede church communion, and 
be the means of leading to it; just as the inter- 



UNION SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 243 

communion of some denominations may pre- 
cede and produce the union of the Church uni- 
versal. It is almost proverbial that men may 
be better than the creed they profess ; and it is 
equally true that they may be more catholic 
than the community to which they belong. 
Although belonging to a schismatical and ex- 
clusive church, they may be disposed to culti- 
vate a universal sympathy with Christian excel- 
lence. And the state of things wanted is that 
Lo which we shall not refuse to commune with 
them as Christians, because we cannot com- 
mune with them as Episcopalians or Independ- 
ents ; nor refuse to hold partial fellowship with 
them, because our fellowship with them cannot 
be complete ; but that which, like the magnet 
rolled in the dust, and drawing to itself every 
kindred particle, will attract and unite the 
catholic and Christian of every church. 

V. And in order to realise this state of 
things for ourselves, and to promote it in the 
Church generally, how few Christians need to 
acquire any new views on the subject ; were 
they only to carry out acknowledged princi- 
ples, and to reduce existing views to practice, 
the change desired would be effected. We 
profess, for instance, to believe in the supreme 
authority of the word of God, and in the right 
of every man to follow his own convictions of its 
dictates. Let us act consistently with our profes- 
sion, and we shall not, we cannot, look coldly 
on a Christian brother for conscientiously fol- 
lowing such convictions, even though they con- 
duct him to conclusions differing, in some re- 
spects, from our own. To punish him with the 



244 THE WAY IN WHICH 

loss of our sympathy on this account is to say, 
either that he does not possess the right of pri- 
vate judgment, and thus to relinquish our own 
right ; or else we are convicting ourselves of 
gross inconsistency and bigotry. Let us act 
consistently with our profession, and we shall 
not only not exclude him from our sympathies, we 
shall feel that the system or the state of things, 
which in any way depresses him for exercising 
an acknowledged right, must be wrong — that 
we are bound to do all we can to remedy the 
evil — and that till then, he is entitled to more 
even than an ordinary measure of our Christian 
regard. 

VI. We have shown that the union sought 
is that which is based on the common reception 
of evangelical doctrines. Let us ask ourselves, 
if, in the church to which we belong, Christian 
union is built on these doctrines alone; and, if 
it be not, let us remember that in proportion as 
we increase the number of requisites to com- 
munion, we multiply the occasions of dissen- 
sion and division. That union is not likely to 
be firm and lasting, the centre of which is a 
trifle, or which even includes trifles. While 
the more we reduce the number of those things 
which the Gospel warrants us to regard as es- 
sential to Christianity, the more attractive and 
binding the centre of our unity, the larger the 
sphere of our Christian charity, and the greater 
the number of Christians and Christian church- 
es comprehended and embraced in our views of 
the brotherhood. If we belong to an exclusive 
church, and do not see it our duty to leave that 
church, we are bound to do all we can for its 






UNION SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 245 

improvement, and to evince more than ordinary 
concern to conciliate the Christians of other 
communions. That church is but little prepar- 
ed to unite with others, which is in a state of 
disunion within itself; but in all our attempts 
to draw the members of our own communion 
nearer to each other, we must be careful that 
we employ no measures calculated to draw 
them to a greater distance from other commu- 
nities. 

VLI. Having rejected all terms of commun- 
ion which are not terms of salvation,* and thus 
narrowed as much as possible the conditions of 
Christian fellowship, we should then be ready to 
fraternise with all ichom we regard as practical 
believers, and with such only. To admit an un- 
godly man into the Church of Christ, and to re- 
ject a sincere Christian, are acts equally schis- 
matic in their tendency : in the former case we 
are admitting an element of division, and in the 
latter rejecting an element of union. So that 
to make the Church more holy, and to make it 
catholic and one, are the same thing. Till 
men have fellowship with God in the participa- 
tion of the blessings of redemption, they may 
profess the same creed, and be united in the 
common enjoyment of outward privileges ; but 
they can know nothing of that sacred union of 
kindred spirits which constitutes the happiness 
of Christians below, and the glory of heaven 
above. But all whom he forms and actuates by 
his Spirit, and admits to communion with him- 

* By what authority ? Ed. 



246 THE WAY IN WHICH 

self, are made free of his Church universal ;* 
and it is at our peril that we impede their com- 
munion with any part of it. Let evangelical 
piety, then, be the only and sufficient passport 
to our hearts, and our churches. 

VIII. When a schism existed in the church 
at Corinth, the remedy which the apostle pre- 
scribed as infallible, was the cultivation of bro- 
therly love.i Again, when consulted respecting 
the divisions in the church at Colosse— when 
he describes himself as enduring an agony for 
the maintainance of their union — and when we 
might suppose, therefore, that his deep solici- 
tude would omit the recommendation of no 
means essential to that oneness, his great and 
only expedients were, that they would take a 
firmer grasp of evangelical doctrine, and that 
their " hearts might be knit together in love. "J 
And were he now to address an epistle to the 
churches of Britain respecting their divided 
state, the probability is that an important part 
of its burden would be the cultivation of that 
Christian charity which beareth and believeth, 
hopeth and endureth all things. Nothing, noth- 
ing can supply its place ; while it would infalli- 
bly bring every requisite to union in its train. 
Oh, if we would see the unhappy divisions of 
the Church cemented, let us try the virtue of 
this healing principle. Let us " love the bro- 
therhood" — not the particular community only 
to which we immediately belong — this is to love 
factiously, to love in a way which divides more 

* Assertion without proof. Ed. 
t 1 Cor. xiii. \ Col. hi. 2. 



UNION SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 247 

than it unites — but the Christian character as 
such. Wherever it exists, Jet our love flow to- 
wards it, as bearing the royal image and super- 
scription of our common Lord. Let us see to 
it that our union with a particular church exists 
independently of our common sympathy with 
certain peculiar views ; and our union with the 
church universal in defiance of such views. 
Let us aim to acquire clear and enlarged views 
of the great central truths of religion, that every 
thing else may appear comparatively trivial, and 
that our differences respecting them may be- 
come trivial also. Instead of condemning our 
brethren for their fidelity to their convictions 
of the revealed will of Christ, let us honor their 
conscientiousness, and rejoice that the Lord of 
conscience has such faithful subjects. Never 
let us impute to their doctrines inferences which 
they disown ; nor to their proceedings evil mo- 
tives which are not apparent. So far from shun- 
ning their society, let us cultivate friendly in- 
tercourse with the excellent of every name; 
owning them before the world as our brethren, 
defending their reputation, honoring their piety 
and usefulness, and seeking occasions for evinc- 
ing our sympathy and Christian regard. Were 
such a spirit to obtain amongst us, its eye would 
discern excellences where before we had seen 
nothing but faults ; its mantle would be thrown 
over defects which before had been exposed to 
the sun ; and its tongue would insinuate truth 
through the medium of the heart, which mere 
argument or evidence could never induce the 
reason to receive. Were such a spirit to pre- 
vail amongst us, remarks Howe, as soon should 
22 



248 



THE WAY IN WIUCIJ 



we think of confining our affection to men of 
our own stature, as to those of our own party ; 
as soon should we suspect our right hand of de- 
signs against our left, as indulge suspicions of 
each other's hostile intentions. As soon should 
we think of being angry with the colors of a 
rainbow, as with the particular shading or ming- 
ling of a truth in a brother's creed, if, at the 
same time, we saw that it " was round about 
the head" of Him that sits on the throne. The 
sparks of jealousy and passion which our little 
collisions have occasioned, and which the breath 
of an infernal agency is ever applied to inflame, 
would fade and be extinguished before the solar 
fires of love ; while those differences themselves 
would either melt into one common form, or 
else we should feel no inconvenience whatever 
from their continuance. As often as we mingled 
together at the table of our common Lord, we 
should feel ourselves drawn closer to each other, 
by coming nearer to Him, the great centre of 
the whole. And to feel that we are one in him, 
would serve in the stead of a thousand argu- 
ments to promote peace, and be a surer bond 
of lasting union, than a thousand ingenious 
schemes of human device ; while the very ab- 
sence of such schemes and formal professions 
would be the strongest evidence of the reality 
of our love. We feel now, that the simplest 
description of love is its highest praise ; we 
should find then, that every act in its service 
was its own high reward that, as it survives the 
existence of faith and hope, and is the only 
principle that ascends from earth to heaven, so 
it can now bring heaven down to earth ; mak- 



UxNION SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 249 

ing it impossible for those who have lived in its 
calm and holy light ever to descend again into 
the dark and stormy regions of unsanctined 
passions. Oh that we were Christians ! 

IX. Let us co-operate with our brethren, as 
far as we can without compromising principle, 
in plans of general usefulness : which is only 
saying, " Let us not love in word only, but also 
in deed and in truth." How mournful and dis- 
graceful is the fact, that, whereas, a few years 
ago, the origination of a benevolent institution 
on catholic principles was the signal for the 
best men of all parties to unite, a similar propo- 
sition now would be almost sure to originate a 
party measure in direct opposition ! Is it not 
the fact that many a school, association, and 
society, have been set on foot, not because they 
were felt by their originators to be necessary, 
but solely because, in each instance, a similar 
institution had been projected by Christians of 
another name ; so that its supporters are actu- 
ally held together, by no sympathy of love to 
each other, or for their object, but by sheer 
sympathy of hostility to those other Christians? 
All the good they intend by the effort is, to su- 
persede or dispossess those Christians ; and 
should they succeed in this object, their own 
institution itself is discontinued, as having an- 
swered the great end for which it was com- 
menced. Alas, alas, for the Christian name ! 

Let us bless God however, that there is com- 
mon ground of benevolent activity on which 
thousands of Christians of various names con- 
tinue to unite still — that one bond, at least, of 
their visible union remains yet unbroken. And 



250 



THE WAY IN WHICH 



it is the growing conviction of the writer that, as 
this is almost the last ligament which visibly 
holds them together, so it is likely to be the 
first and the principal means which God will 
employ in again restoring them to each other's 
love. Whether he will compel us thus to unite 
in mere self-defence against the counter activity 
of a world whose interests we are betraying and 
neglecting by our divisions; or whether by an 
effusion of the spirit of love and zeal, he may 
lead us to think more of the will of Christ, than 
of the claim of party, we stay not now to inquire. 
But judging of the superior facilities for union 
which plans of benevolent activity present, and 
from the deepening conviction of Christians that 
such combination is made essential to the con- 
version of the world, we repeat our belief that 
benevolent co-operation is likely to be the prin- 
cipal means of restoring Christian union. 

And oh, if Christians were wise for God, how 
invaluable an opportunity for uniting to advance 
his kingdom now presents itself in the religious 
education of the rising race ! Whether general 
education be desirable or not is no longer the 
question — it has become inevitable — the only 
question left open is, whether it shall be good 
or bad. Never could a conjunction of circum- 
stances be more favorable than the present for 
rendering that education all that piety and pa- 
triotism could desire — a new generation thirst- 
ing for instruction — the great majority of the 
adult population, not merely admitting the ex- 
istence of the want, but even clamorous that it 
should be satisfied — the government willing to 
meet the demand — and all looking to the Chris- 



UNION SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 251 

tian denominations, and waiting for nothing but 
their united assent and cordial co-operation. 
The youthful mind of the nation is placed at 
their disposal : let them seize the opportunity 
and unite in training it for God, and the latest 
posterity will reap the advantage and bless them 
for it ; but let them neglect it — it. is passing — 
and never may it return again, but will certain- 
ly pass into the hands of a power which will 
teach it to laugh at their divisions, and to tram- 
ple on their weakness. Where is the wisdom 
equal to the crisis ? and what a motive to sup- 
plicate a speedy effusion of the great uniting 
Spirit ! 

Christian reader, take not your views of duty 
from any mere party-point ; or they will cer- 
tainly be narrow, low, disgraceful to that name 
which is destined to absorb every other — the 
great name of Christ. If you are active only 
with a party, is there not reason to fear that you 
are active only for a party ? Or do you find a 
luxury in any of those annual festivals of love, 
where Christians of various denominations unite 
for the promotion of a common object '? Seek, 
then, to enjoy such communion more frequent- 
ly still. Ascend that mount of vision which 
commands the field of the world ; let your sur- 
vey take in the whole ; how vast the multitudes ! 
how urgent and awful their condition ! how 
brief the hour for benefiting them ! how mighty 
the interest pending on that short hour ! Wher- 
ever your eye falls, it encounters some signal to 
be active ; some object in an imploring or com- 
manding attitude, urging you to come to the 
help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against 
22* 



252 



THE WAY IN WHICH 



the mighty. Take such a survey, arid we will 
defy you to be inactive, or to be active only for 
a party. You will dissolve into compassion for 
the world. You will join hearts with all who 
bear the family likeness of Christ. You will 
think only of swelling his train ; of proselyting 
to his one Church. You will feel that you are 
an agent for Christ ; that you stand related to 
that infinite circumference of good of which he 
is the central glory. You will pray for a bless- 
ing upon yourself, and your own particular 
church, only that the whole may be benefited, 
and the world saved. You will hold yourself 
free for the embrace of great plans of opera- 
tion ; rejoice, like the spirits above, in the pros- 
perity of a part of the Church, as implying the 
welfare of the whole ; and the only contention 
you will view with complacency will be that of 
the vine with the olive, which shall bear the 
best and most abundant fruit. 

X. 1. With all these means, 'prayer must 
be conjoined — social prayer — social prayer ex- 
pressly for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 
The evident absence of brotherly love, and the 
general prevalence of estrangement and asperi- 
ty, demonstrate how little, how very little the 
Christians of different communities pray for 
each other. There is that in the very nature of 
prayer for another which brings us into the 
closest union with him. Having taken his case 
to the footstool of Mercy, and having thus, in a 
sense, espoused it and made it our own, we feel 
our peace and happiness involved in the success 
of our suit. Now, could we plead thus, in priv- 
ate, for the visible union of the faithful, without 



UNION SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 253 

coming forth from the closet in a healing spirit 
of concession, mediation, and Jove? Or, if a 
number of Christians of different persuasions 
were to " agree to ask" for each other, in their 
separate devotions, a spirit of forbearance, ten- 
derness, and mutual affection, and were they to 
meet together immediately afterwards, would it 
not be to exchange a more cordial grasp, and 
more confiding looks of brotherly love ? 

2. But if this state of feeling would be the 
happy result of our private supplications for 
each other, how much more would it ensue 
from our united requests ! If, in conversation, 
we are sometimes drawn towards each other, 
and see our heart reflected in the heart of our 
brother, how much more are the responses of 
the soul called forth by prayer ! How could 
we feel estranged from the heart which had 
poured itself forth before God in our behalf? 
How could we hear him entreat of God, as a 
high favor, to be more closely united with us, 
without becoming conscious of a desire to be 
more closely united to him ? How could mu- 
tual claims and rights be disregarded, or any of 
the social graces languish, among those who 
had thus mingled together their tenderest and 
purest feelings at the throne of their common 
Father ? Would they not — must they not — 
delightfully feel that they " are all one in Christ 
Jesus?" and would not the feeling necessarily 
and visibly embody itself before the world ? 

3. But not only are we to pray for union, 
and to pray for it socially, we are to honor the 
Divine arrangements by imploring that it may 
be effected in his own appointed way — by the 



254 THE WAY IN WHICH 

effusion of his Holy Spirit. By simply praying 
for the blessing of union with our brethren, we 
are merely bringing our own spirits to the ob- 
ject ; but the triumph of prayer is to bring an- 
other Spirit, the Almighty Spirit, to accomplish 
it, and to become the one soul of the Church. 
By the former we are only acting negatively — 
ceasing to be obstacles to each other's union — 
laying our hearts together like precious metals 
in the crucible, and offering them to the action 
of a higher agency ; by the latter, we are draw- 
ing down that melting and transforming power 
which is to fuse the whole and to impress it 
with the Divine image. 

And, here, let us remember,—!. That the 
divisions of the Church are expressly attributed 
in Scripture to the absence of the Spirit. When 
" the staff of Beauty" — our union to God — is 
broken, immediately " the staff of Bands" — the 
brotherhood between Judah and Israel — is cut 
asunder."* When he is gone, the uniting soul 
is gone, and the body dissolves. And of those 
who " separate themselves," it is said that they 
are " sensual, having not the Spirit."i So that 
even if Christians were one to-day, they would 
be divided to-morrow, without the presence of the 
Divine Spirit. 2. The agency which shall unite 
the Church must be one which is able both to 
reach the spirits of men, and even to cope with 
that great spirit who is the leader and fomenter 
of all strife; so that no agency less powerful 
than that of the Divine Spirit could effect it. 
3. Why is it that so vast a body as^the faithful 

* Zech. xi. f Jude 19. 



UNION SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 255 

have in all ages been united as they have — 
united on subjects on which all other men dif- 
fer — why, but owing to this one cause, the 
presence among them of an all-pervading Spirit? 
leaving us to infer, that if ever this body be- 
comes more united, it must be the result of the 
same agency — that as the Spirit is still like 
himself, however the Church may have become 
unlike itself, more of the same cause would 
produce more of the same effect. 4. When- 
ever this result is prefigured or promised in 
Scripture, it is represented as the direct result 
of a Divine influence. If bone came to his 
bone in the valley of vision, it was because the 
Spirit came, in answer to prayer, and breathed 
upon them, if the two sticks of Judah and 
Benjamin became one in the hand of the pro- 
phet, it was because the prophet himself was in 
the hand of God, And if believers shall " have 
one heart and one way," it will be because 
God will fulfil his promise to " give them." 
5. Accordingly, the economy of the Gospel is 
emphatically the dispensation of the Spirit ; 
whatever good may result to man, or whatever 
glory redound to God, from the instrumentality 
of the Gospel, is to be ascribed to the presence 
and agency of the Spirit. 6. Now one of the 
principal and primary objects of his presence in 
the Church is to unite its members in one. 
" For there is one body, and one Spirit ;" and 
there is only one body, because there is but one 
Spirit. He first converts men to one way, that 
he may then unite them in one heart, in order 
to exhibit and employ them as one body, which 
he shall animate and inhabit as the one soul 



256 THE WAY JJN WHICH 

of the whole. 7. So that to ask for an effusion 
of the Spirit, is to ask, in effect, for the union 
of the Church. Till hone had come to his bone 
in Ezekiel's vision, and the several parts of the 
body were united, there was no breath in them 
— in other words, the union of the body is es- 
sential to its life ; and accordingly the Spirit 
animates only as he unites, and keeps united 
all whom he animates. 8. Whence it follows, 
that we are to seek the union of the Church 
not only by the Spirit, but for him. Union is 
not to be regarded as an end; but only as 
a means which he is to employ to a farther end. 
To expect the scriptural union of his Church 
without his agency ,* and to expect that he will 
effect a union for its own sake alone — a union 
which should supersede his presence, and ren- 
der us independent of his aid, are both equally 
inconsistent and presumptuous. As the Spirit 
of light, he would illuminate and make our 
judgments one in the reception and belief of 
fundamental truth ; as the Spirit of love, he 
would render a oneness in more than funda- 
mental truth unnecessary ; for having one Head 
we should have but one heart ; and, then, as 
the Spirit of life, he would actuate the entire 
body of the faithful in one undivided effort for 
the glory of God, and speedily give the world 
to its instrumentality. 9. Now this Divine 
Spirit — the great principle of union and life in 
the Church — is promised unconditionally to 
prayer. " Ask, and ye shall receive. "* We 
are assured that the effectual fervent prayer of 

* Luke xi. 9, 13. 



UNION SHOULD EE SOUGHT. 257 

even one of the faithful availeth much ; but, as 
if to induce them to assemble in numbers and 
unite in asking, our Lord promises to their 
united prayers what he does not promise to their 
separate and solitary requests. " If two of you 
shall agree on earth as touching any thing that 
they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my 
Father who is in heaven. For where two or 
three are slathered together in my name, there 
am I in the midst of them."* Here is a pro- 
mise made expressly to the united prayer of 
even two or three, over and above the promises 
made to each of them when engaged in private 
devotion. Here is a power conferred on the 
united prayer of even two believers, greater 
than the amount of power and efficacy attach- 
ing to the prayers of the same two individuals 
in their single and solitary petitions. Here is 
the Great Head of the Church, who lost no op- 
portunity of inculcating the union of his spirit- 
ual body, honoring the union of only two of his 
people in prayer, by investing it with an influ- 
ence in heaven, greater than that which he 
promises to all his people praying separately. 
As if he had said, for instance, in anticipation 
of our present subject, " If you pray to unite, 
evince your sincerity by uniting to pray, and 
your prayer shall be granted. Having prayed 
apart and alone, you will be prepared to pray 
together, which is itself a blessing, an incipient 
union ; and by praying together, though your 
number should be the lowest capable of being 
united, consisting of only two, the Divine Spirit 

* Matt. xix. 19, 20. 



258 



THE WAY IN WHICH 



shall descend to ratify and bless the union, and 
to make it the means of a still greater. But if 
such be the result of the union of only two or 
three, what would be the power of fifties, hun- 
dreds, or thousands ? If my people came to 
pray for the spirit of union in companies, com- 
munities, and united denominations, the scenes 
of Pentecost should be repeated ; soon should 
they all be one, as the Father is in me and 1 in 
Him ; they should be one in us, and the world 
would believe that the Father had sent me." 

Oh, if we valued union as Christ does, we 
should feel that the collected and united prayers 
of the whole Christian world would not be equal 
to the magnitude of the blessing, or to the ardor 
of our desires. If we knew the might of united 
prayer, we should pant to behold a convocation 
of all the churches of Christendom, in the per- 
sons of their ministers and representatives, pros- 
trate in the fervor of believing and united sup- 
plication. If we knew how complacently God, 
from the throne of his glory, would look down 
on such a scene, or even on the least approxi- 
mation to it — how emphatically the blessed 
Spirit is appointed to honor it before the eyes 
of the universe — how full the heavens are at 
this moment of his waiting influence — how in- 
evitably the salvation of a ruined world would 
ensue — could we stand aloof from each other 
any longer ? A voice would go forth from every 
section of the Christian community, saying, in 
anxious, brotherly, burning accents, " Come, 
and let us go speedily to pray before the Lord." 
The universal Church, like " the city of the 
Ephesians," in reference to " the great goddess 



UNION SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 259 

Diana," would become one " worshipper" — so 
completely would all their souls be turned into 
desire, and all that ardent desire, flow in one 
channel, for the gift of the great uniting Spirit. 
From such a scene, Christ could not be absent. 
There would he be in the midst of them. 
There would he be to breathe on them, and 
say, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. By one and 
the same act, they would receive the crowning 
gift of the Christian dispensation, and he the 
fulfilment of his final prayer — for they all would 
be one. 

XI. In addition to all these means of pro- 
moting Christian union, or rather with a view 
of bringing them into operation, the apostle 
would enjoin it on all ministers of the Gospel 
to look on themselves as the appointed peace- 
makers of the Christian Church. Ecclesias- 
tical history testifies, alas, how culpably they 
have, in this respect, forgotten the design of 
their office. " There are few schisms in the 
churches," says Flavel, " in which ministers 
have not had some hand. Jerome, on Hosea 
ix. 8, has these words, ; Searching the ancient 
histories, I can find none who have more rent 
the Church of God than those that sustain the 
office of ministers.' " One of Luther's habitual 
prayers was, " From vain-glorious doctors, con- 
tentious pastors, and unprofitable questions, 
good Lord deliver us." " Had the ministers of 
the Gospel," says Baxter in his Reformed Pas- 
tor, " been men of peace, and of catholic rather 
than factious spirits, the Church of Christ had 
not been in the case it now is Com- 
monly, it even brings a man under suspicion of 
23 



260 THE WAY IN WHICH 

favoring some heresy, or abating his zeal, if he 
do but attempt a pacificatory work. As if 
there were no zeal necessary for the great fun- 
damental verities of the Church, unity and 
peace, but only for parties, and some particular 
truths ; as if all zeal for peace pro- 
ceeded from an abatement of our zeal for holi- 
ness ; and as if holiness and peace were so 
fallen out, that there were no reconciling them : 
when yet it has been found, by long experience, 
that concord is a sure friend to piety, and piety 
always moves to concord ; while, on the other 
hand, errors and heresies are bred by discord, 
as discord is bred and fed by them." 

What, if the Levites, appointed to watch the 
Jewish temple night and day, had sacrilegiously 
set fire to the very building which their office 
required them to guard from the incendiary ! 
Their flagrant conduct would only and fairly 
have represented the guilt of those who abuse 
the peaceful and guardian office they occupy in 
the Christian temple, into an opportunity for 
kindling strife and inflaming divisions. The 
Epistles of St. Paul to Timothy and Titus 
(analysed in our first section) show that it is 
the office of the ministry, partly, to warn the 
Church against divisions, to rebuke its self- 
willed and contentious troublers, and to soothe 
its feverish throbbings with the healing hand of 
love. They are, indeed, to maintain the truth; 
but they are to " maintain it in love" — (Eph. 
iv. 15) — an intimation to " the sacred order," 
says Doddridge, " that it was the design of the 
ministry to preserve peace and charity, as well 
as orthodoxy, regularity, and discipline, in the 



UNION SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 261 

Church ;" an intimation, too, it might be ad- 
ded, that controversy itself should be so con- 
ducted as to win esteem instead of alienating it. 
Some of the advocates of union, indeed, have 
proposed that societies should be formed, and 
lecturers be sent forth to disseminate scriptural 
information on the subject; a plan which 
might be executed with advantage. Arch- 
bishop Wake thought that the adoption of 
" a common church service'' would shortly 
conduce to the union desired. And probably 
it would. Cut such a measure presupposes a 
degree of unanimity, which it should be the 
laborious endeavor of ministers to produce. 
Let them follow the example of the apostle 
Paul in his ministry — preaching " Christ cru- 
cified ;'" glorying in the Gospel as the ministry 
of reconciliation, an institution for restoring 
men to God, and to each other in him. Let 
them copy him in his epistolary correspon- 
dence — and what were his letters to the church- 
es but proclamations of peace, inspired edicts 
from the throne of love ; commanding believers, 
as they valued the favor of the King of saints., 
and hoped for a crown above, to " be kindly 
aftectioned one towards another." Let them 
imitate hirn in his healing conduct towards 
those whose differences from each other were 
only circumstantial, by sending them together 
to gaze at the cross ; by habitually exhibiting 
and exalting Christ before their eyes as their 
common centre, and their only hope. Why is 
it, a person might be ready to ask, on begin- 
ning to read the First Epistle to the Corinthi- 
ans — why is it that the apostle repeats the 



262 



THE WAY IN WHICH 



name of Christ so often ? Not a sentence, but 
Christ is introduced by name — hardly a clause 
in which his name and even his titles do not 
recur, until we feel as if the apostle were 
writing principally for the sake of repeating 
that blessed name. Let him read on to the 
12th verse, and he will discover that the design 
is to call off attention from names which di- 
vide — such as Paul, Apollos, and Cephas — by 
centering it on Him in whom these, and all other 
appellations, meet and merge — the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Let them go and do likewise; remem- 
bering that if little things occupy the attention 
of their people, it is only owing to the absence 
of great ones ; that " our church" is a little 
thing compared with " our Lord," and "our 
denomination" a trifle compared with our 
common salvation ;" that if those whom they 
address are saved, they will be saved not as de- 
nominationalists but as Christians, and not as 
members of a particular church, but as belong- 
ing to the Church universal. Let them follow 
him in his magnanimity towards his schis- 
matic rivals; rejoicing that Christ is preached, 
though from inferior motives ; offering to co- 
operate, and actually assisting, in every en- 
deavor calculated to enlarge the kingdom of 
Christ ; and, instead of eyeing the prosperity 
of other churches askance, while all heaven is 
rejoicing at it, sympathising in that prosperity, 
and thus making it their own. Let them imi- 
tate his prayers ; wrestling with God, in private, 
for the peace and unity of his Church ; deplor- 
ing, in public, the existence of so many barriers 
to the free and general communion of the 



UNION SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 263 

Church ; confessing its divisions as its scarlet 
sin ; admonishing their people to pray for the 
impartation of the Holy Spirit as the only and 
infallible remedy ; and taking every opportu- 
nity of associating with the ministers and mem- 
bers of other denominations in united prayer 
for a united Church ; remembering that the 
great Intercessor above prays, not for a party, 
— that the names of all the tribes are engraven 
on his breast-plate, and that those prayers are 
likely to be the most successful which most 
nearly resemble his own. And let them copy 
the apostolic example, in often dwelling, them- 
selves, on the final union of the whole Church, 
and in leading their people to the contempla- 
tion of the same august prospect. Let them do 
this, and they " shall be called the repairers 
of the breach, the restorers of paths to dwell 
in." Often let them lead their people to the 
lofty contemplation of that day, when that 
name shall be deemed by Christians the most 
appropriate which is most expressive of their 
common subjection to Christ, and their uni- 
versal love to each other — when every party 
appellation shall be forgotten and lost in the 
great name of Christ — and when Judah and 
Ephraim shall be one. Oh, how natural would 
a spirit of conciliation become, after gazing on 
such a prospect ! As if we had come down from 
a vision of heaven, from beholding those who 
while here differed from each other, all united 
and happy in each other's society there, our 
necessary concessions would appear so trifling 
that we should not feel them to be sacrifices — 
our union would at once begin. 
23* 



CHAPTER XI. 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

In proceeding to the enforcement of some of 
the most cogent reasons for Christian union, it 
might be proper to anticipate two inquiries, 
which might otherwise impair the desired im- 
pression. " Is the present a suitable season 
for bringing the question of union before the 
Church? And, have we any rational hope of 
promoting such union V 

1. In brief reply to the first inquiry, we re- 
mark, that as the obligation to Christian union 
is perpetual, the obligation of enforcing it is 
perpetual also ; so that from the first moment 
of division in the Church to the final sounding 
of the trump of God, the inculcation of the duty 
can never be absolutely out of place — that if 
the present be a season of peculiar distraction 
in the Church, so much the more reason for 
laboring to restore it. to its right mind — that as 
the darkest hour is commonly that which pre- 
cedes the dawn, so it is historically true, that 
the gloomiest season of the Church has been 
generally that selected by God for saying to it, 
" Arise, and shine, for thy light is come" — that 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 265 

we really know of no time having elapsed in 
the past, more suitable than the present, for the 
inculcation of union ; since the subject, when- 
ever raised, could scarcely have failed to awaken 
discussion on the party questions now in de- 
bate — that as to waiting for some more suitable 
period in the future, — as we have no right to 
expect that such time will ever arrive unless we 
employ the appropriate means, we are solemnly 
bound to do all we can to hasten it on — and, 
finally, that it is our sober and cheering convic- 
tion that, inflamed as is the state of party feel- 
ing in the Church at present, there is (and 
partly on that very account) as deep a convic- 
tion of the necessity of union, and as earnest 
and powerful a desire after it, in many a Chris- 
tian bosom, as at any preceding period ; that 
the number of such is increasing; and that a 
scriptural appeal on the subject is much more 
likely to affect the heart of the Christian now, 
with the torn and mangled state of the Church 
before his eyes, than as if we were deluding 
each other with the cry of" peace, peace, when 
there is no peace." 

2. Admitting, however, that the present is as 
suitable as any other season, and in some re- 
spects even more so, for the introduction of our 
subject, " have we," it might be asked, " any 
rational hope of promoting the union of the 
Church V To which we reply, that when we 
recall to mind the long-established reign of 
those prejudices by which Christians are di- 
vided — the almost uniform and total failure of 
the numerous, various, and strenuous endeav- 
ors which have been made to heal them — the 



266 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

still prevailing disinclination to second such at- 
tempts — and the formidable obstacles which 
must be removed before a general union of 
Christians can be effected — we freely confess 
that were we to be sanguine of any thing like 
speedy and general success one moment, our 
fears, whether justifiable or not, would arise 
and rebuke us the next. On the other hand, 
we are not without grounds for expecting that 
a considerable approximation to Christian union 
is at hand. Such an approximation would be 
only in harmony with the spirit of the age, and 
with those various movements in society, which 
seem destined to be the means of temporally 
enlightening and improving the human race ; 
and though the Church may only be indirectly 
affected by such an influence, still influenced it 
necessarily must be by the tendencies of that 
society in which it exists. The sword of per- 
secution, too, sleeps in its scabbard ; and the 
spirit of intolerance rarely ventures forth in the 
light of day. Our hopes, however, test, under 
God, chiefly on influences of a purely religious 
nature. The growing diffusion of scriptural 
knowledge in the present day, cannot fail grad- 
ually to bring into question the existence of 
whatever is antiscriptural and antisocial in the 
Church. Those great benevolent and mission- 
ary enterprises, in which the best of every de- 
nomination are embarked in obedience to the 
will of their common Lord, make them feel in- 
creasingly the need of practical union and gen- 
eral co-operation ; in order, both to make the 
most of their resources at home, and to avoid 
the fatal results of visible disunion and eventual 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 267 

collision before the eyes of the heathen abroad. 
And, more and mightier than all, the prayer 
presented by the great Intercessor ; and re- 
peated by his followers in every subsequent 
age, " that they all might be one." As cer- 
tainly as that prayer was offered, it will be 
answered ; so that at this moment its accom- 
plishment is nearer than at any preceding mo- 
ment, and the next moment it will be nearer 
still. Every prayer of his people has been has- 
tening it on ; and, should the effect of the 
present appeal be to heighten the fervour of a 
portion of those who are already suppliants for 
the union of the Church, and to add but ten 
other suppliants to their number, we should 
confidently reply to the supposed inquiry, We 
believe that we have a strong and scriptural 
warrant for expecting the approaching union of 
the Church. 

3. Our present appeal is made, be it remem- 
bered, not to the nominal religionists of the 
Christian community. We do not expect that 
those whose only attachment to religion is one 
of prejudice, will remain attached to it in defi- 
ance of prejudice. We are not so romantic as 
to imagine that the bigoted, whose loyalty to 
religion consists entirely in an obstinate de- 
fence of one or other of its out-works, should 
capitulate to the voice of reason, or even of 
Scripture itself; their " occupation would be 
gone" — their religion vanished — they would 
have nothing left in which to trust ! We do 
not expect that the selfish will voluntarily con- 
struct a plan for the reduction of their own im- 
portance in the Church ; especially if nothing 



268 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 



better than union is to ensue. We are not so 
ignorant of human nature as to expect that 
those to whom " gain is godliness," will place 
in the remotest degree of hazard their " means," 
their " living," " the main chance," for any 
thing so airy and intangible as Christian unity. 
So long as the " pavement" of the temple is 
" beaten gold," how can they be expected to 
lift their eyes even to the " vision beatific V 
And as to the sensual and immoral, till they 
can forgive the Gospel for standing between 
them and their sins, we do not expect that 
they will forgive those who are aiming to con- 
form to its requirements ; and until they are 
united to Christ, we do not desire a closer 
union with them than that which arises from 
seeking their salvation. 

4. Our appeal is made " to the faithful in 
Christ Jesus," of every community — to those 
who hope to be associated in heaven with all 
the " called, and faithful, and chosen ;" and 
our entreaty is, that they will acknowledge and 
visibly unite with them in the Church on earth. 
We do not ask them to hate certain portions of 
the Church, to avoid them, to renounce all 
communion with them. Oh, had there been a 
requirement of this nature in the Bible, how 
hard would it have been considered by some, 
and how certain a proof that the whole Gospel 
was an imposture, by others ; — but we ask them 
to love ; we urge them to gratify the instinctive 
affection of their new nature ; to augment their 
happiness a thousand fold, by opening the arms 
of their heart, and embracing all who are re- 
ceived by Christ. We ask them, not to exclude 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 269 

any of the present objects of their Christian 
regard, but to include others ; not to demolish 
their temple, but only, by removing " the mid- 
dle wall of partition, 5 ' to enlarge it ; to renounce 
nothing of their denominational character but 
its unscriptural exclusiveness. We do ask 
them practically to admit, that " the supremacy 
of the Bible, and the right of private judg- 
ment," are words which have a meaning. We 
do ask that the Bible may be allowed to over- 
rule and expel from among them that rival and 
impostor, Expediency — that they will consent 
to discuss the questions which divide the 
Church, on purely religious grounds — that they 
will regard the adherence of nominal Christians 
as a necessary source of weakness; so that 
were all the nominalists in Christendom to 
desert their respective communities, and to 
attach themselves to any one denomination, 
that denomination (all other things being equal) 
would from that moment be shorn of its proper 
strength and utility, and become a mass of mere 
worldliness. We do ask that they will cease to 
treat the great principles which they hold in 
common as trifles, and to exalt trifles into the 
throne of great principles — that they will cease 
to think of conciliating the irreligious by any 
thing short of scriptural conversion ; and that 
they all unite together in a godlike endeavor 
for that end — that they will remember that 
there is a principle of union existing between 
the pious churchman and the pious dissenter 
infinitely more intimate and binding than there 
is between either of these and the irreligious of 
their respective communities, that while the 



270 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

bond which unites the one is accidental and 
temporary, that which unites the other is fast- 
ened by the hand of God himself, and fastened 
for eternity — that they will bear in mind that, 
as Christians, they belong properly to no one 
external communion, but that whatever they 
have or are in this capacity, they possess only 
in common with the entire body of the faithful 
— and that, in order to be brought into a scrip- 
tural state of union with this body, they abso- 
lutely need the impartation of the Holy Spirit, 
and should earnestly cry for his advent among 
them. 

5. And now let Christians devoutly consider 
the grounds on which we ask this, and the 
reasons which bind them to comply — reasons 
so cogent that the least of them all is infinitely 
greater than the greatest, than all the reasons 
which can be adduced against it — reasons so 
many, and various, and diffused over so wide a 
space, that no single mind can collect and com- 
bine them — so affecting and weighty, that al- 
though the wisest and the holiest men have in 
all ages united to enforce them with tears and 
entreaties, and though some of these appeared 
even to have been continued on earth chiefly to 
enforce them, devoting their whole lives to the 
work, yet they never have, never can have, full 
justice done to them — reasons so sacred, that 
they have their seat in the bosom of God — so 
vast, that they measure with the universe — and 
so deeply laid in the Divine purposes, that the 
great object of the advent itself — the salvation 
of the world — is suspended on their taking 
effect. 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 271 

I. Ought we not even to be shamed into the 
suppression of many of our factious proceed- 
ings, when we remember the associations which 
bind together multitudes of the irreligious? 
Shall they with all that is selfish and antisocial 
in their nature, live on a more friendly footing, 
and enjoy more unreserved intercourse with 
each other, than the children of the family of 
the God of peace ? 

II. Science, too, is loudly boasting of her 
catholicity. " Science, the partisan of no 
country, but the beneficent patroness of all, 
has liberally opened a temple where all may 
meet. She never inquires about the country 
or sect of those who seek admission. The phi- 
losopher of one country should not see an 
enemy in the philosopher of another. He 
should take his seat in the temple of science, 
and ask not who sits beside him." Such is the 
language of science ; while that of the Church 
is almost entirely the reverse. It is true that 
science does not descend into the heart as re- 
ligion does ; appeals not to our great interests 
and responsibilities ; and, consequently, leaves 
the depth and mass of our moral nature un- 
moved. But if, on this account, it does not 
contain the same occasions for disunion among 
its followers, neither does it furnish the same 
reasons for union. Their goddess and temple 
are mere abstractions ; our God is the only 
Absolute Existence in the universe : their 
knowledge and pursuits are bounded by time ; 
ours are from heaven, and for it, and are com- 
mensurate with eternity. And shall they have 
to set us an example of peace? Shall " the 

24 



272 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

disputers of this world," rebuke, by their unity, 
the followers of the Prince of Peace ? They 
ought to find peace in the Church, when they 
are distracted by the cares, and dissatisfied 
with the emptiness of the world : shall they be 
driven from the Church to find calm and en- 
joyment in the world ? 

III. Even the political quiet of the country* 
is disturbed by the broils of Christians. Great 
civil interests are neglected, the organisation of 
a system of national education is delayed, the 
movements of the Legislature thwarted and 
thrown into confusion, and important questions 
of humanity and good government are com- 
pelled to wait, till the intended peacemakers 
of the world have adjusted their own quarrels, 
and agreed among themselves. 

IV. And this reminds us of the scriptural 
reasons for our union. What was the design 
of the whole Gospel economy ? The angels 
who heralded the advent of its Divine Founder, 
announced that its object was peace on earth, and 
good-will towards men. The divisions of his fol- 
lowers, however, seem to intimate, that Christi- 
anity possesses the strange and questionable vir- 
tue of attracting all classes to itself, and of 
repelling them all from each other — that it 
converts all the enmity which they once felt 
against God, into hostility against each other — 
that those who were meant to be the peace- 
makers of the world, so far from fulfilling their 
office, have not yet been able to settle the pre- 
liminaries of even a truce among themselves, 

* England, be it remembered. Ed. 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 273 

but are among the principal disturbers of so- 
ciety. And thus it is that our mutual conten- 
tions are actually placing in hazard the char- 
acter and design of the Christian dispensation. 
V. But during the early ages of Christianity , 
the Church visibly and really maintained its in- 
tended unity ; and ought not this consideration 
to exercise a healing influence on Christians of 
the present day? With a thousand reasons for 
division of which we happily know nothing, the 
first Christians were one. The petty bickering 
which occasionally disturbed the peace of a 
particular society, did not affect the union of 
the general Church. " They who are at 
Rome," said the Bishop of Caesarea in a letter 
to Cyprian, " do not entirely observe all things 
which have been handed down from the begin- 
ning So, likewise, in a very great 

number of other provinces, many things vary 
according to the diversity of place and people; 
but, nevertheless, their variations have at no 
time infringed the peace and unity of the 
catholic Church." Converging from the most 
opposite points, Christians met together at the 
cross, and the principle which drew them to 
that, bound them also to each other. And 
shall that example exist for us in vain ? Shall 
we tempt the world to infer that the Gospel 
exhausted its benevolent power in its first 
efforts ? that its uniting influence is irrecover- 
ably lost? Of this we may be assured, that 
until we practically regard the unity of the 
primitive Church as obligatory on ourselves, its 
history exists only to aggravate our guilt and to 
increase our condemnation. 



I 



274 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

VI. Every inspired injunction of mutual 
forbearance among Christians, is a scriptural 
argument for the unity of the Church. When 
the apostle interfered to compose the differ- 
ences in the church at Rome, though he ad- 
mitted that they implied the existence of erro- 
neous views, he not only did not enjoin the 
expulsion of the erring, he did not even pe- 
remptorily pronounce on which side the charge 
of error lay, but attempted to effect a reconcili- 
ation while each retained his peculiar tenets. 
And the ground on which he rests the obliga- 
tion of each party to exercise forbearance with 
the other is, " for God hath received him."* 
"We then that are strong ought to bear the 
infirmities of the weak, and not to please our- 
selves. Wherefore receive ye one another, as 
Christ also hath received us to the glory of 
God."f Here, then, is an apostolic canon for 
the regulation of the conduct of such Christians 
as fundamentally agree, while they differ on 
points of subordinate importance — a canon 
which imperatively requires them to exercise a 
reciprocal toleration and indulgence — to give 
each other credit for a conscientious difference 
to the will of Christ — to view each other as 
mutually received of God — and all this that 
they may on no account proceed to an open 
rupture. So that all the parties which at pres- 
ent divide the Church, owing to diversities of 
opinion which are not inconsistent with salva- 
tion, exist in open violation of this sacred 
canon, impeach the inspired wisdom which 

* Rom. xiv. 3. t Rom. xv. 1 — 7. 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 275 

enjoins it, and repeal all those commands of 
mutual toleration which harmonise with its 
spirit. Oh, how should it humble those parties 
to reflect, that were they to pass an act of 
oblivion for all the alienations and feuds of the 
past, mutually to concede the points at issue, 
and forthwith to embrace and become one — 
vast as the sacrifices would appear in their own 
eyes, and great as the event would certainly be 
in its happy results — it would after all be only 
and simply an exercise of Christian forbear- 
ance, an act of obedience to the heavenly voice 
which says, " forbear." And shall they who 
are commanded even to love their enemies, 
show that they have not Christianity enough to 
bear with their friends ? Shall they whose re- 
ligion requires them to pray for their deadly 
persecutors, show that they have not religion 
enough to pray with their brethren of another 
name? Is this to " forbear one another in 
love V 

VII. Let Christians remember that Christ 
commands their unity. And the unity he en- 
joins is that which is cemented by love ; so 
that mutual forbearance itself is to be exer- 
cised, not reluctantly, but as the result and ex- 
pression of Christian affection. " A new com- 
mandment give I unto you, that ye love one 
another." He will not accept that as love to 
the brethren, which consists only of love to a 
party. The affection which he demands is 
that which embraces Christians as Christians, 
and therefore all Christians — which loves on a 
universal reason. He will not accept that as 
love to the brethren which merely tolerates 
24* 



276 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

their existence — which simply gives them leave 
to be — which allows them to worship God only 
on the stern condition that they remove to a 
distance, and remain apart from us. Surely 
we cannot suppose that such a state of mind 
could ever justify us in saying, " We know that 
we have passed from death unto life :" and yet 
the state of mind which believers are mutually 
to cherish would justify them in saying that, 
for it would furnish a scriptural proof of their 
being in a state of salvation. It is not possible 
that love of any kind should confine itself to 
mere negative expressions — to bare abstinence 
from the infliction of injury — least of all the 
fraternal love which Christ requires in his 
people. It " suffereth long, and is kind, and 
never faileth ;" for its exemplar is the ever- 
active and all-fruitful love of Christ to them- 
selves. 

To render this exercise of love still more 
obligatory, our Lord inculcates it as the princi- 
pal mark by which his followers are to be dis- 
tinguished in every age ; as the chief evidence 
of our being in a state of union with himself; 
as furnishing to the world a convincing proof 
of the divinity of the Gospel ; and as the all- 
pervading principle which alone can prevent a 
" schism in the body." That it might have a 
pattern which should move as well as teach, 
our Lord proposes himself — " as I have loved 
you, that ye also love one another ;" intimating, 
at once, how rich their fraternal love should be 
in its fruits, and how ample in its embrace, for 
his love is extended indiscriminately to every 
member of his spiritual body. And to render 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 277 

the command irresistible, he waits till the cross 
is in view before he utters it — urges it as his 
last request — repeats it as peculiarly the law of 
Calvary — as if he would make it impossible for 
them ever to revisit the hallowed scene without 
hearing it issue from the cross afresh ; or ever 
to meet around his table without feeling them- 
selves bound to pledge each other anew to mu- 
tual love, over the sacred symbols of his love to 
them. Oh, if Christians did but remember that 
they cannot turn away from each other, with- 
out turning away from their dying Lord ; with- 
out rudely violating the only new command 
which his lips of love ever uttered ; without 
sullenly disregarding a request which came 
forth with his blood, with what mutual conces- 
sions would they approach each other and em- 
brace. " Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought 
also to love one another." 

VIII. And how powerfully should the love 
of the brotherhood be enforced by the consid- 
eration that their union is indissoluble. Those 
who are constituted brethren by virtue of their 
relation to Christ, will, and must, be brethren 
forever. Cold and formal towards each other 
they may be, suspicious and distant they may 
be, but, in spite of all, the principle of brother- 
hood continues, and will continue forever. 
Nothing which they can themselves do to effect 
a separation — no process which can be adopted 
by their enemies — can ever annihilate their fra- 
ternity to others, or the fraternity of others to 
them. The vital ligature which unites them to 
God, is that which also unites them to each 
other ; and as there is " nothing which shall be 



I 



278 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

able to separate us from" the one, our con- 
nexion with the other is indissoluble. What 
true sublimity does this fact of essential perpe- 
tuity impart to the relationship of the Christian 
family ! How lamentably are their existing di- 
visions at variance with it ! How impossible 
would it be for them to become duly alive to it 
without consenting to merge those differences 
— without approximating to the spirit of that 
blessed religion where love is a divine reality, 
and the brotherhood is complete ! 

IX. The fellowship of Christian denomina- 
tions should be cultivated from the considera- 
tion that the wisest and the best of each have most 
earnestly desired it, and that now they are per- 
fectly one in the Church above. Many of them 
(men, of whom the world was not worthy) have 
left their desire on record — a fact which will be 
adduced in evidence against the troublers of 
the Church in the day of final account. Some 
of them died with the desire on their lips; they 
could not bequeath a legacy of peace to the 
Church as their dying Lord did, but they ap- 
proached his example as nearly as they were 
able, by earnestly desiring it for those they left 
behind. Some of them who had contended too 
eagerly concerning minor points, saw and ac- 
knowledged their error even on this side death. 
How admirable the letter in which Ridley, writ- 
ing to Hooper — when both of them were prison- 
ers for Christ — laments their " little jarring in 
time past about the by-matters and circumstan- 
ces of religion," but assures him that, " with 
his whole heart, in the bowels of Christ, he 
loves him for the truth's sake, which abideth in 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 279 

us." And can we suppose that in heaven they 
are conscious of any regret on the subject of 
their agreement, except that it was not made 
earlier l " If the ruptures of the Church might 
be composed," says Chillingworth, " I do hearti- 
ly wish that the cement were made of my dear- 
est blood." 

" I confess," writes Owen, " 1 would rather, 
much rather, spend all my time and days in 
making up and healing the breaches and schisms 
that are amongst Christians, than one hour in 
justifying our divisions, even therein, wherein 
on the one side they are capable of a just de- 
fence." " Far more comfort were it for us," 
writes Hooker, in his " Ecclesiastical Polity," 
" to labor under the same yoke as men who 
look for the same eternal reward of their labors ; 
to be enjoined with you in bonds of indissolu- 
ble love and unity ; to live as if, our persons 
being many, our souls were but one, rather than 
in such dismembered sort to spend our few and 
wretched days in a tedious prosecuting of weari- 
some contentions, the end whereof, if they have 
not some speedy end, will be heavy on both 
sides." How solemn the adjuration of Bishop 
Hall, when preaching before the Synod of Dordt 
— " We are one body, let us also be of one 
mind. By that tremendous name of the Al- 
mighty God by your own souls — 

by the most holy compassions of Jesus Christ 
our Saviour, aim at peace, brethren ; enter in- 
to peace; that laying aside all prejudice, party 
spirit, and evil affections, we may all come to a 
happy agreement in the same truth." " It has 
long been my grief, as well as my wonder," 



280 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

writes Boyle, " to see such comparatively petty 
differences in judgment make such wide breach- 
es and vast divisions in affection. " " 1," ex- 
claimed Baxter, in the golden sentence we have 
already quoted, " I can as willingly be a martyr 
for Love as for any article of the creed/' And 
such is the spirit breathed in the writings of a 
Wesley,* a Whitefield,t and indeed of all the 
most distinguished " fathers of the modern 
churches.* 1 

And can we suppose that they who were the 
mediators and healing spirits of their day, have 
any thing to regret, except that they were not 
more in earnest? Oh, could we take our dif- 
ferences into their presence — could we convoke 
and consult a synod of the blessed — how cer- 
tainly should we behold those whose disciples 
and descendents have been ever at variance 
here, sitting together in heavenly places in 
Christ Jesus ; how earnestly would they unite 
in admonishing those followers, if they honor 
their memory, and would enhance their happi- 
ness, to blot from their writings the controver- 
sial and contentious page in which once they 
gloried — to merge their names at once and for- 
ever in the great Christian name — and to emu- 
late the union of heaven, if they would obtain 
an antepast of its joys ! " Let us but imagine 
what their blessed spirits now feel at the retro- 
spect of their earthly frailties, and can we do 
other than strive to ^ee\ as they now feel, not as 
they once felt ? So will it be with the disputes 

* See his Sermon on a Catholic Spirit, 
t See his Letter to the Religious Societies. 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 281 

between good men of the present day ! and if 
you have no other reason to doubt your oppo- 
nent's goodness than the little point in dispute, 
think of Baxter and Hammond, of Milton and 
Taylor, and let it be no reason at all."* 

X. But if the union of the Church militant 
would be thus agreeable to the Church tri- 
umphant, how much more agreeable would it be 
to the nature of Him who is the Author of both 
— the Blessed God! He is " the very God of 
peace/' Whatever the glorified above, or the 
redeemed on earth, may know of peace, they 
know only as recipients and instruments ; but 
He is its very God. He is the fountain whence 
all the streams of peace which are at this mo- 
ment circulating through the universe, immedi- 
ately flow. And his Church was intended, un- 
der Christ, to be the channel of peace to this 
troubled world. How agreeable, then, would 
it be to his exalted nature to see his Church 
answering its high design ; no longer reflecting 
from its bosom the tempestuous and angry sky 
of earthly strife, but the calm of a higher region 
— giving back to heaven its own image, and 
presenting to earth the means of becoming 
like it. 

XI. How agreeable would it be to Him who 
has selected as one of his most appropriate titles, 
u the Prince of Peace !" who chose that the 
peacemakers should be called, more emphati- 
cally than others, the children of God — leaving 
us to infer that they more nearly resemble their 
Heavenly Father ; who bequeathed to his 

* Coleridge. 



282 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

Church a legacy of peace ; who prayed in death 
that his followers might be one ; and who would 
still be invoked by them " as the Lord of peace 
himself.'' As " the head of his body the 
Church," he feels the shock and suffering of all 
that is inflicted on the members ; and not the 
less that the hand which inflicts it is its own. 
How congenial would it be to his gracious na- 
ture to see that his people were no longer cruci- 
fying him afresh, and putting him to an open 
shame — that they were no longer losing sight 
of his cross in a fierce contention about his 
seamless robe — no longer forgetting his atoning 
blood in their thirst for the blood of each other 
— but that they were all looking upon him who 
had been thus wounded in the house of his 
friends, were mingling their tears and supplica- 
tions together, and then, emulating the winged 
zeal of the angels at his advent, were going in- 
to all the world, preaching, " peace on earth, 
good-will towards men \V 

XII. How agreeable would the restoration 
of unity be to that Divine Agent who is given 
to the Church as the Spirit of love, joy , and 
peace ! " There is but one body and one Spirit, 
a Spirit that spreads vital influence through the 
body. What can we think of that Spirit that 
feels every where ? that is in the body a uni- 
versal sentient ? How can that Spirit but be 
grieved ? How should any of us like it, to have 
our living body torn limb from limb, and part 
from part ! Though with him passion and dis- 
turbance can have no place, intellectual resent- 
ment is infinitely greater and deeper than we 



i 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 283 

can either feel or conceive."* But in the same 
sense and degree in which the dissevered and 
distracted state of the Church now grieves him, 
the restoration of its unity and peace would 
yield him ineffable delight. The very desire 
of such restoration sincerely and generally ex- 
pressed would open the windows of heaven, and 
cause him to return. If even a good man is 
conscious of pure satisfaction in only attempt- 
ing a family reconciliation, how inconceivable 
would be the satisfaction of the Divine Spirit in 
restoring and ratifying the peace of the great 
family of God ! What benevolent spirit in heaven 
would not find an additional heaven in being 
despatched even to assist in such an office ! 
Who, then, shall attempt to describe the satis- 
faction of Him to whom the office belongs, and 
to whom it belongs, because it is congenial and 
proper to his nature ? In restoring the torn 
members of the Church to each other, and heal- 
ing its wounds, he would be only gratifying his 
own nature. And having prepared the body, 
he would be able to return to his appropriate 
office of being the life of that body, and through 
it, the glorifier of Jesus in the conversion of the 
world. 

XIII. But if the unity of the Church would 
be thus agreeable to the Father, to the Son, 
and to the Holy Spirit, let us consider its emi- 
nent fitness and consequent agreeableness to the 
blessed Trinity in Unity. Of this we are re- 
minded by our Lord himself in his intercessory 
prayer — " that they all might be one, as thou 

" Howe. 
25 



284 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also 
might be one in us." Of the Divine subsisten- 
ces in the Trinity the Church knows nothing 
scripturally, but as they subsist in the unity of 
the Godhead, acting together in the economy 
of our salvation. And of all the partakers of 
that salvation, the world ought to have known 
nothing practically, but as they were seen to- 
gether in the unity of the Church, acting to- 
gether for the conversion of the world. How 
suitable is it that those who have to ascribe 
their salvation to a plan in which the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Spirit have united their 
infinite perfections, and who have been all bap- 
tised into their one sacred name, should them- 
selves unite in a community of love and duty in 
return — that the members of each Christian 
church, feeling the penury of their utmost love, 
should call on the members of every other 
church to unite with them, and thus multiply 
their means of glorifying the Triune God ! And 
how supremely agreeable to the Blessed Trini- 
ty, looking down from the throne of their infi- 
nite glory, to behold the image of their own 
ineffable union reflected in the intimate and in- 
dissoluble oneness of the Church ; and the 
Church contending only which part of it shall 
be most instrumental in going into all the world, 
preaching the Gospel to every creature, and 
baptising them into the threefold name of God ! 
XIV. A tender appeal for the unity of the 
Church is derivable from the fact that it owes 
its existence entirely to infinite love. If, like 
many an earthly kingdom and institution, it had 
originated in strife, in strife it might have been 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 285 

maintained ; but it is the pure creation of Love. 
If it be true that in God we live, and move, and 
have our being — if, as men, we inhabit his infi- 
nite essence, it is true that, as Christians, we 
inhabit his very heart, dwell in his love. It is 
to this fact the apostle alludes when he would 
have us to comprehend with all saints the four- 
fold dimensions of the love of God. Material 
substances have only three dimensions ; but the 
Church, having for its temple the heart of God, 
is to search for the circumference in all direc- 
tions round, and be lost in the love which pass- 
eth knowledge. Christians, the Church is the 
institution of love ; shall we make it the scene 
of hatred ? It stands in the heart of God ; 
shall we fill it with malevolence ? What should 
we have thought of the disciples, had they audi- 
bly quarrelled on Calvary, and in the hearing of 
their dying Lord ? And yet all our contentions 
are conducted in the presence of the love which 
led him there ! Is not this crucifying him 
afresh ? 

XV. The union of Christians would be not 
only eminently agreeable to the Author of their 
salvation, and in accordance with what they 
owe to his love, it would be supremely advanta- 
geous to themselves. How necessarily would it 
tend to harmonise our views on those points 
which are now the sources of division ! Is not 
this the gracious way in w T hich God seeks to 
terminate our guilty quarrel with himself? In- 
stead of moving off ft om us to the greatest pos- 
sible distance, has he not come nearer to us 
than ever, dwelt amongst us, established a min- 
istry of reconciliation, and invited us to " come 



286 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

and reason" with him at a throne of grace ? 
And by pursuing this gracious course towards 
us, is he not intentionally showing us the right 
way of becoming reconciled to each other ? and 
would he not honor and bless the imitation of 
his own methods ? 

The spirit of conciliation which would then 
prevail would of itself do more towards the ad- 
justment of disputed points than all the treatises 
which they have ever called forth. Suspicion 
would be painful to us ; and crimination labori- 
ous and hateful ; we should refrain from it not 
only because required by God to do so, but also 
by a prohibition and law of our Christian na- 
ture. Mutual explanation alone, fraternally 
sought, and promptly, patiently, and kindly 
given, would obviate many a difficulty, and 
prove many an objection, now deemed insu- 
perable, to have been quite unfounded. The 
simplest means of conciliation would then be- 
come means of grace, for God would bless them. 
In the presence of the great objects which would 
engage our attention, many of the points at is- 
sue now would at once be eclipsed and forever 
lost sight of. While the Spirit of God, descend- 
ing into the clear and serene atmosphere which 
would then fill the Church, would either, as the 
Spirit of Truth, lead us into all truth respecting 
the ^e\v points that remained, or else, as the 
Spirit of Love, would render such illumination 
unnecessary. Thus union would produce una- 
nimity, and unanimity, by reaction, promote 
union. 

XVI. It would greatly promote the piety of 
the Church. Hence the prayer of St. Paul for 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 2S7 

the Thessalonians — " The Lord make you in- 
crease and abound in love one toward another, 
and toward all men : to the end he may stablish 
your hearts unblamcablc in holiness before God." 
Having put away the childish things — the toys 
and trifles which now engage our attention, and 
occasion our disputes — " we should feel with 
much greater influence than ever the force of 
high motives ; we should be thrown directly 
upon all that is vast, ennobling, and pure, in 
the objects of our faith :" we should view the 
whole path of duty as from heaven. Breath, 
now wasted in controversy, would be turned 
into the incense of prayer. Christian inter- 
course would then be, what it always should 
have been, a religious ordinance — an exercise 
of mutual benevolence — a channel of grace. 
And the only spirit invoked in the Church 
would be the Spirit of grace. 

XVII. In a variety of ways, the union of 
Christians would greatly increase their capacity 
for usefulness. " Union is strength/' When 
it was once demanded of Agesilaus why Lace- 
daemon had no walls, he replied, " The concord 
of the citizens is its strength. ,; And as a city 
or a kingdom becomes powerful in proportion 
as its parts act in concert, so would it be with 
the Christian Church. Talent, which is con- 
suming itself in the flames of angry controversy, 
would then be sanctified, and set at liberty, for 
a holier office. Zeal would come from one part 
of the Church, to be directed by Wisdom from 
another part. Preaching, where it is now, in 
consequence of the withering influence of dis- 
sension, productive of comparatively little good, 
25* 



288 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

would then, by being devoted intensely to the 
exhibition of Christ crucified, be attended with 
Pentecostal success. Churches which have now 
to complain of weakness and worldliness, would 
then, by copying the visible unanimity and con- 
centrated zeal of the primitive saints, be crown- 
ed with primitive triumph, and be more than a 
match for hostile myriads. Resources, which, 
divided, are not equal to the religious cultiva- 
tion of a country, would, when united, be equal 
to an attempt on a continent. And, having 
made the attempt, instead of fearing in every 
Christian stranger that approached our sphere of 
labor, an agent from a rival church deputed to 
supplant us, we should hail him, from whatever 
section of the Church he might have come, as 
a brother beloved, and as a reinforcement of our 
spiritual strength. 

XVIII. Christians would be inspired with a 
sacred fortitude and courage. The desertion 
or mutiny of part of an army, disheartens all 
the rest. And Christians, " unless united, sig- 
nify but as so many single persons ; each one 
caring and contriving only how to shift for him- 
self. Love makes them significant to one an- 
other. Every one understands himself to be 
the common care of all the rest." The con- 
viction that they cannot fail without grieving 
those whom they love and who love them, would 
keep them from the thought of declining ; and 
the assurance, that in every enterprise of be- 
nevolence they carried with them the sympa- 
thies and prayers of the Church, would put them 
on deeds of heroism in the cause of God, which 
would call forth the applauses of all heaven. 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 289 

XTX. But especially would union increase 
their capacity for usefulness, by increasing their 
capacity fur the reception and operation of that 
Holy Spirit who alone can crown their activity 
icith success. In order that the slain in the 
valley of vision might become an efficient body, 
it was necessary, not only that life should enter 
into each separately, they must fall into order 
with a view to the union and organisation of 
the whole — and, then, as " an exceeding great 
army," a skilful commander alone was wanting 
to lead them forth to conquest. The Leader of 
the hosts of God is already waiting. Let them 
not only be compact in their several sections, 
but let those sections be united with each other, 
and as one body, he will lead them forth " ter- 
rible as an army with banners." Nothing shall 
be too great for them to attempt ; and every 
conflict shall be a victory. 

XX. How loudly is such a union called for 
by the fact that, though at present they refuse 
to co-operate, God is graciously commending 
them to each other, by employing them all, as 
far as their divisions permit, and, according to 
the amount of their piety and zeal, impartially 
blessing them all. Where is the denomination 
which engrosses all religious excellence to it- 
self? or which pretends to a monopoly of the 
Divine favor ? Where is the Christian Church 
which has not been the means of saving some 
souls from death ? Shall we ascribe this, as 
the Jews maliciously ascribed the miracles of 
Christ, to Satanic agency ? If not, there is no 
alternative left us but to ascribe it to God. And 
shall we cast from our presence those whom 



290 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

God is distinguishing with his favor ? In hon- 
oring their instrumentality, he is answering 
their prayers, and sending them from his throne 
with his blessing ; and shall we meet them on 
the way, and " curse whom the Lord hath bless- 
ed 1" Shall we meet them as they descend 
from the mount, and look angrily on those on 
whom God has been smiling ? Shall we admit 
that every instance of their usefulness is an at- 
testation, under the great seal of Heaven, that 
they are his servants — an " epistle of commen- 
dation" to our hearts ; and shall we yet close 
our hearts against them, and thus affront the 
Being whose signature they bring 1 Let us be 
assured that the Lord whom they serve is say- 
ing to them, as he did to his first disciples, 
" He that despiseth you, despiseth me." As 
we would not despise the Lord that bought us, 
then, let us recognise the usefulness of ail whom 
he employs : and, by co-operating with them, 
let us seek to augment that usefulness, and to 
participate in its joys. 

XXI. Such a union could not fail to strike 
the world with awe. Whether it was announced 
by any public manifesto from the united church- 
es or not, so remarkable an event would neces- 
sarily attract general attention. That Christians 
should have consented to hold their differences 
in abeyance, that they should have agreed to 
sacrifice their particular predilections, and that 
they should have done this solely to facilitate 
the progress of the Gospel — this would evince 
so unquestionable a zeal for the conversion of 
the world, that cavillers would be confounded, 
the prejudiced conciliated, and the general heart 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 291 

be impressed. Only let the proclamation go 
forth, "Christians are one" — the "gates of 
heli" would tremble at the sound ; and more 
honor would accrue to the Gospel than it has 
received from the Church since the days of the 
martyrs.* 

XXII. But not merely would it arrest the 
public eye, it would assail and affect the public 
heart. The world would not long be left at 
leisure to speculate and wonder. Men would 
find that the Church had united for an object — 
that that object was themselves — that they were 
assailed on all sides by the combined and om- 
nipotent forces of love. The Spirit himself 
would be the leader of the Christian host; his 
sword, the weapon they employed ; his inspira- 
tion animating them to the fight ; and his power 
crowning them with success. Scenes of apos- 
tolic triumph would be witnessed again. Jesus 
would see of the travail of his soul and be satis- 
fied; for men, convinced that such a union of 
disinterested love in a selfish world could only 
be resolved into a heavenly cause, and breathed 
upon by the great renewing Spirit, would at 
length believe that God had sent him, and would 
gratefully capitulate to his offered grace. 

XXIII. From all this would necessarily re- 
sult a vast enhancement of our happiness. Hap- 
py, indeed, we may now be comparatively in 
the favor of God ; but how much happier should 
we then be in the superadded favor of all his 
people ; for in their sympathy we should find 



* This view is powerfully enforced in the New Mo- 
del of Christian Missions. 



292 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

the reflection of his smiles, and an additional 
channel in which his love might flow. " Oh, 
what cheerfulness, strength, and pleasure, did 
the primitive Christians reap from the unity of 
their hearts in the way and worship of God ! 
Next to the delight of immediate communion 
with God himself, none like that which arises 
from the harmonious exercise of the graces of 
the saints in their mutual duties and communion 
one with another. How are their spirits dilated 
and refreshed by it ! What a lively emblem is 
there of heaven ! the courts of princes afford no 
such delights. 5 '* To the joys of internal com- 
munion would be added those of external tri- 
umph. Our joy would be the joy of harvest — 
a harvest of immortal souls gathered in to Christ ; 
the joy of angels over one repenting sinner, 
multiplied by the numbers which would then be 
added unto the Lord daily ; the joy of Christ 
himself, for which he endured the cross, despis- 
ing the shame — for in his satisfaction and glory 
we should find our own. Of such a Church 
God himself would not be ashamed. Answer- 
ing, as it would, his Divine intention, he would 
pronounce it good. He would rejoice over it 
with singing. In the light of his countenance 
would begin its millennial day. Nothing that 
could add to its prosperity would be withheld. 
No gift that could enrich it, no honor that could 
distinguish it in the eyes of the world, would be 
deemed too costly to confer. " A great voice 
out of heaven would be heard, saying, Behold, 
the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will 
dwell among them." 

* Flavel. 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 293 

XXIV. And is it of all this that our divi- 
sions are depriving us ? They are depriving 
us of more — of all that happiness which the 
fruits of our union would produce in the fnal 
judgment and in eternity. According to St. 
Paul, in the fourteenth chapter of his Epistle to 
the Romans, the subject of our present divisions 
is to come under examination at the judgment- 
seat of Christ. Now we are presuming to judge 
each other, then he will sit in judgment on us 
all. We shall find ourselves associated then 
with many of those whom we now condemn. 
And will it detract nothing from our bliss to re- 
member that on earth we refused them our 
communion, avoided them, contributed nothing 
whatever towards the acquisition of that spirit- 
ual excellence in which they will then eclipse 
the sun ? We are to suppose, not only that be- 
lievers individually, but that entire churches 
will reap the result of their collective useful- 
ness, in an award of collective happiness. And 
will it detract nothing from our felicity to re- 
member that we knew little of collective useful- 
ness? to see that the additional crown which 
we should have won as co-workers, as party- 
workers we have lost? According to the same 
apostle, when writing to the Thessalonians, in 
the passage we have before cited, the union of 
Christians now will be a great augmentation of 
their happiness then. He prayed for that union, 
" to the end their hearts may be established in 
holiness before God, even our Father, at the 
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his 
saints." Now when he shall so " come to be 
glorified in his saints," one of the facts relating 



294 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

to them which will redound to his glory will be ? 
that he should have made them all one in him- 
self. But if their union then will add lustre to 
his glory, will it add nothing to the happiness 
of those among them who shall be able to re- 
member that they honored him in the same way 
here upon earth ? That they here presented to 
the world the heavenly spectacle of a united 
Church ? On the other hand, will it detract 
nothing from our joy to remember that we had 
to die before we would unite with more than a 
party ? that we left the Church as divided as 
we found it ? and that our departure was actu- 
ally the departure of an obstacle to union ? 

And are our divisions thus casting their 
shadows forwards into eternity? Are they not 
only impairing our happiness and usefulness 
now, but even threatening to dim the lustre of 
the crown which shall be assigned us then ? 
And for what ? Who is to be the gainer ? 
What is the compensation ? When is it to ac- 
crue 1 Assemble the Church, and inquire. 
Surely, if an advantage is ever to result, it must 
by this time have appeared. Fifteen hundred 
years have been allowed the Church to try the 
merits of division. Summon the various par- 
ties, and learn what these merits are. Alas ! 
some of them are embroiled too deeply to heed 
the call. And of those that do, some refuse to 
approach lest they should be contaminated by 
the touch of another denomination ; while the 
rest, estranged from each other, exhibit signs 
of mutual jealousy and distrust. And is this 
the religion of love, in praise of whose fraternal 
and sympathetic spirit inspiration prepared its 






MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 295 

loftiest strains? How has its gracious spirit 
evaporated ! and whither has it fled ? Are these 
the descendants and representatives of the men 
who were so rich in their affections, and lavish 
of their all for Christ, that hostility itself was 
often disarmed, and their enemies turned into 
admiring friends ! Is this the Church which 
was to be made transparent by the enshrined 
glory, to repel the presumptuous approach, to 
invite admiration, and to find in its unearthly 
excellence its lustre and defence ? Alas, its di- 
visions have made it the scorn of the world ; 
have often proceeded to such extremities that 
the world itself, after looking on awhile in de- 
rision, has at length interfered in pity to part 
the combatants. Is this the Church which was 
to advance like a bannered host, carrying with 
her the sympathies of the groaning creation, 
gathering up trophies at every step, and return- 
ing at length from the circuit and conquest of 
the world, laden with many crowns for him 
who had caused her to triumph in every place ? 
Alas, how often, and to what a wide extent has 
she herself been worsted — worsted and dis- 
graced, till Imposture has dared to threaten her 
with extinction — Popery has caricatured her 
likeness and successfully passes in her stead — 
Infidelity points at her " the slow unmoving 
finger" of scorn — and no form of error, no sys- 
tem of deception, deems itself too impotent to 
contend with her, too mean to vie with her, or 
too insignificant to be accepted in her stead ! 
Is this the body which was to be made one by 
the inhabiting and all-pervading Spirit ; and of 
whose unity the most intimate and compacted 
26 



296 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

objects in creation were considered the most 
appropriate emblems ? Alas, the body is so dis- 
located, dismembered, and mangled, and the 
disjecta membra so scattered, that it has become 
another vision of dry bones ; and another resur- 
rection which shall bring bone to his bone is 
alone adequate to its condition ! And was it 
for this that Divinity and humanity met in the 
person of the Son of God ? Was it for this lie 
bowed his head upon the cross, and died to 
show that God is Love ? Was it for this he 
instituted a Church, prayed for its unity, en- 
dowed it with his Spirit, and gave to it the field 
of the world for the scene of its triumphs? Our 
hearts feel that it was not. The sighs of num- 
bers mourning in secret over the blighted peace, 
the prostrate energy, the humbled honor of the 
Church, assure us that it was not. All the un- 
reclaimed, neglected, perishing portions of the 
world, protest that it was not. Shame — equal 
shame — on the Jews who crucified the Son of 
God, and on Christians who, in the person of 
his members, have for ages been crucifying him 
afresh, and are still putting him to an open 
shame. Blessed Saviour, we need that thou 
shouldest add to the prayer for the unity of thy 
disciples the prayer for thy murderers, " Father, 
forgive them, for they know not what they do." 
Well might the apostle so passionately beseech 
the members of the Corinthian church, by the 
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to heal their 
divisions. Supposing he foresaw only a thou- 
sandth part of the evils which would spring 
from schism, well might he endure an agony of 
solicitude for the peace of the church at Co- 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 297 

losse ! Would an entreaty less pathetic, or a 
concern less profound, have been suited to the 
magnitude of the occasion ? Where, then, is 
the energy of appeal, and the anguish of con- 
cern, which would be equal to the divisions of 
the Church now ? Christian, there is not an 
object in the wide creation, which does not 
sympathise in solicitude for our peace — there is 
not a holy intelligence in the universe, which 
does not join in an entreaty, urging us, for 
Christ's sake, to unite. They are all interested 
in it : — from Him who sits on the throne, " ex- 
pecting till his enemies are made his footstool,'' 
and waiting for his followers to unite for that 
end, through all ranks of holy existences round 
about his throne, and down through every class 
of this lower creation groaning and waiting to 
be delivered — all, have a momentous stake in 
the union of the Church, and entreat us, for 
Christ's sake, to be one. 

Christian, you are not insensible to sights of 
sorrow and suffering : you could not look on a 
lacerated, bleeding, human being, without shud- 
dering in sympathy. See, then, that marred 
but majestic spectacle of suffering ! it is the 
mangled form of Divine Christianity — her gar- 
ments rent — her sacred person wounded — and 
life streaming out at every wound ; and, as she 
turns on us a mournful and imploring aspect, a 
voice from each of those wounds entreats us to 
unite. Shall we staunch them ? or shall our 
answer to her entreaty be the infliction of yet 
more wounds ? Before she quits our presence, 
a voice from afar comes pealing on our ear — 
the cry of the victims of superstition seeking 



29S MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

ease of mind in self-inflicted tortures of body — 
of the conscience-stricken idolater eagerly in- 
quiring if there be a Saviour from despair — of 
the dying on the shores of eternity asking, but 
asking in vain, concerning the dark unknown 
before them — all, combining and beseeching us 
to unite and hasten to their relief. In aid of 
their entreaty, comes a voice from the past — 
not merely from the depths of dungeons which 
Bigotry has built, from flames which she has 
kindled, and from the ruins of Christian tem- 
ples she has laid waste — a sound of more solemn 
and appalling import — the voice of the myriads 
who, through the divisions and consequent ne- 
glect of the Church, have gone down to final 
destruction, entreating us to unite and send 
unto their brethren lest they also come into the 
place of torment. And shall all these entrea- 
ties come to us in vain ? But above and be- 
yond them all, a voice may be heard, whose 
every accent should thrill through the universal 
Church — the voice of the great Intercessor 
within the vail, still praying, still pleading, 
" that they all may be one." And shall he 
pray thus alone ? Will not his people join him ? 
Shall not church after church unite in the 
prayer till the entire body of believers have 
joined him ? till the burden of the church above 
has become the burden of the Church below ? 
Oh ! happy day for the earth — the first of the 
millennium. And happy day for heaven — the 
first of a millennium there; for the union of 
Christians on earth would be the glory of the 
blessed above. 

Christian, you can assist to hasten it on. 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 299 

From this day your duty is clear, definite, im- 
perative — you are to become an agent and an 
element of Christian unity. Is the Church di- 
vided ? resolve, in the strength of God, that, as 
far as you are concerned, it shall not remain so 
— that, if it do, it shall not be your fault. 

Is the subject of Christian union very gen- 
erally misunderstood, disregarded, and unfelt ? 
explain, recommend, and enforce it in every 
scriptural way ; put into circulation every tract, 
pamphlet, and book likely to advance its claims ; 
show especially that the Bible is full of it from 
beginning to end. Is an impartial endeavor at 
union likely to incur, as it ever has done, the 
obloquy of the partial and the prejudiced of all 
parties ? welcome the reproach, " count it all 
honor," and behold in it an additional incentive 
to persevere. Are there certain obstructions, 
the removal of which you deem an indispensa- 
ble prerequisite to union ? Let the spirit and 
manner in which you seek to remove them de- 
monstrate that you seek it, not for its own sake, 
but for the sake of union — and that you aim 
even at union, not for its own sake, but for the 
sake of that great object with which the divided 
Church is still trifling — the conversion of the 
world. Is it true, that there are some to be 
found in every community of the faithful who 
long for the visible fellowship of the whole ? 
claim kindred with them, and take them to your 
heart ; co-operate with them in the same socie- 
ty, and for a common object ; and see if there 
be not some scheme of Christian beneficence 
yet untried around which all may rally, and in 
which all may unite. Is it true, that the young 



300 MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 

are less influenced by the spirit of party than 
those who have long mingled in its strifes ? Be- 
take yourself to them; imbue them with the 
spirit, and claim them for the cause, of Chris- 
tian union, before schism shall have seized and 
sworn them into the service of party. Show 
them the prospect which awaits the earth in the 
sublime spectacle of a united Church ; take 
them to the mount of vision where they can be- 
hold it ; — " from the tops of the rocks I see 
him, and from the hills I behold him ; how 
goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy taberna- 
cles O Israel !" — urge them to live — to die, if 
necessary — in order to turn that vision into 
reality. Is Christ interceding for the oneness 
of his body, the Church ? Resolve that you 
will daily join him in the entreaty. Is his Spirit 
grieved at its dissensions, yet waiting to return ? 
Confess its guilt, deprecate his displeasure, and 
invoke an effusion of his healing influence. 

Are souls ruined, is the world perishing, 
through its divisions ? Yes, and on it will go 
for a time, trying to save them by its divided 
efforts — laboring to succeed without uniting. 
But no, never ; the plan is fixed by Him who 
changeth not — the unity of the Church must 
precede the salvation of the world. Publish 
this truth abroad ; be assured that those Chris- 
tians who differ most, are all one on this sub- 
ject — they all desire to save their fellow-men. 
So that never can you insist on this ground for 
union, without touching a chord which vibrates 
through all their hearts alike. Resolve, there- 
fore, to keep this motive to union in view your- 
self, and to insist on it with others — that the 



MOTIVES AND ARGUMENTS TO UNION. 301 

visible unity of Christians must precede the con- 
version of the world, and is the appointed means 
by which it is to be effected. They are all be- 
lievers in your blessed Lord, and glory in his 
image. Resolve, then, that their people shall 
be your people, since their God is your God. 
Their eventual union, remember, is absolutely 
certain ; and, oh, the glorious results of that 
union, what tongue can tell ? A triumphant 
Church — a converted world — a glorified Re- 
deemer — a rejoicing universe. But eye hath 
not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered 
into the heart of man to conceive its blessed 
effects. Covet to witness it. Pourtray its splen- 
dors to your mind ; and enjoy it, in anticipa- 
tion, daily. Let it be the joy set before you, as 
it was, and is, before your Divine Redeemer ; 
and you will account no labor too great, no sa- 
crifice too costly, that can accelerate its arrival, 
even by a moment. And remember, also, that 
a united Church awaits your arrival in heaven. 
Every element there tends to unite. Act now, 
as you will wish, ten thousand ages hence, you 
had acted ; and from this day you will seek to 
heal the divisions of the Church ; and myriads 
of ages hence, you will be still blessing God 
that you did so. 



REV. JOHN HARRIS'S WORKS. 

New Prize Essay. 
ZEBULON ; 

OR, THE MORAL CLAIMS OF SEAMEN STA- 
TED AND ENFORCED. By Rev. John Harris, 
of Epsom, England. First American, revised from 
the third London edition. Edited by Rev. W. M. 
Rogers, Pastor of Franklin Street Church, and Rev. 
Daniel 31. Lord, Seamen's Preacher, Boston. 

From the Christian Register. 
The work has been so far altered by its American 
Editors, as to adapt it to the peculiarities of our nation 
in regard to the condition and wants of our seamen. 
For which liberty, those who are concerned have made 
in the introduction an apology, undoubtedly sufficient 
to the English author. The book bears the same indu- 
bitable mark of genius and piety as do most of the oth- 
er productions of the same mind. It is destined to 
have an extensive circulation ; and will undoubtedly 
accomplish a great deal towards directing the attention 
and liberality of Christians to a highly important, nu- 
merous, deserving, and at the same time greatly neg- 
lected and abused class of our brethren. 

From Zions Advocate, Portland. 

It well sustains the high reputation which the gifted 
author has gained by his former highly talented pro- 
ductions. The introduction by the American editors, 
is an interesting article, in which are exhibited the great 
advantages of the " Sailor's Home." We are much 
pleased with all the contents of this volume. It is 
written in the usual style of the author. It pleads the 
cause of this too much neglected class of our fellow- 
creatures as we have never known it to be advocated 
before. Surely, he will receive a thousand blessings 
from the hardy sons of the ocean. 

We were hardly aware, before we read this essay, of 
the faintness and feebleness of the efforts that have 
been made to enlighten and Christianize seamen — nor 
were we prepared to believe that their situation was so 
degraded in morals. 

27 



304 HARRIS'S WORKS. 

From the Christian Watchman. 
We have read the Essay of Mr. Harris, with much 
satisfaction ; and we hardly know which most to ad- 
mire, the ability with which the author has accom- 
plished his undertaking, or the benevolence of his de- 
sign. 



MAMMON ; 

OR, COVETOUSNESS THE SIN OF THE CHRIS- 
TIAN CHURCH. By Rev. John Harris. Author 
of the " Great Teacher." Third American, From 
the Twentieth London edition. 

This Work has already engaged the attention of 
Churches and individuals, and receives the highest 
commendations. The publishers take pleasure in pre- 
senting the following united recommendation from cler- 
gymen in this city. 

" Having read the prize Essay of the Rev. John Har- 
ris, entitled ' Mammon, or Covetousness the Sin of the 
Christian Church,' we cordially recommend it as de- 
serving the serious perusal of the professed followers 
of Christ. 

" Its general circulation will be a powerful means of 
increasing the spirituality of the churches, and of ad- 
vancing every good work which depends in any meas- 
ure upon pecuniary contributions. 

R. ANDERSON, J. H. FAIRCHILD, 

DAVID GREENE, S. S. MALLERY, 

DANIEL SHARP, HUBBARD WINSLOW, 

WILLIAM M. ROGERS, LUCIUS BOLLES, 

JOTHAM HORTON, ABEL STEVENS, 

BARON STOW, WILLIAM JENKS, 

WILLIAM HAGUE, A. BOIES, 

GEORGE B. IDE, D. M. LORD, 

GEORGE W. BLAGDEN, E. THRESHER." 



THE GREAT TEACHER : 

CHARACTERISTIC OF OUR LORD'S MINIS- 
TRY. By Rev. John Harris, of Epsom, England, 
with an Introductory Essay, by Rev. Dr. Humphrey, 
President of Amherst College. 






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